INTEGRATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
REQUIREMENTS INTO THE COMMON FISHERIES POLICY
(22279)
7260/01
COM(01) 143
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Commission Communication: Elements of a Strategy for the Integration of Environmental Protection Requirements into the Common Fisheries Policy.
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| Legal base: |
— |
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| Document originated:
| 16 March 2001 |
| Forwarded to the Council:
| 16 March 2001 |
| Deposited in Parliament:
| 5 April 2001 |
| Department: |
Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
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| Basis of consideration:
| EM of 24 April 2001 |
| Previous Committee Report:
| None |
| To be discussed in Council:
| No date set |
| Committee's assessment:
| Politically important |
| Committee's decision:
| Cleared, but relevant to the debate recommended in European Standing Committee A on the Green Paper on the future of the Common Fisheries Policy
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Background
17.1 Article 6 of the Treaty requires environmental
protection requirements to be integrated into a range of Community
policies, with a view to promoting sustainable development, and,
following the impetus given to this process by the Cardiff meeting
of the European Council in 1998, the matter has been pursued within
the Fisheries Council, which is aiming to adopt a strategy for
presentation to the next meeting of the European Council in Gothenburg.
According to the Commission, this Communication is intended as
the basis for the adoption of such a strategy.
The current document
17.2 In its Communication, the Commission
notes the effect which fishing activities have on the marine environment
both directly (through the depletion of stocks, and the impact
on marine habitats) and indirectly (through changing the situation
in other parts of the food chain). Conversely, it also points
out that environmental changes can in turn affect the productivity
of fisheries. It suggests that, beyond the legal obligations derived
from the Treaty, there is an ethical obligation to ensure that
these effects do not become large, unmanageable or irreversible,
but that, notwithstanding the degree of integration already achieved,
progress has been less than might be expected.
17.3 It attributes this to two main factors.
First, it says that the CFP has in some respects been inadequate,
as for example in its over-exploitation of major commercial stocks,
its effects on non-target organisms and habitats, and the threats
posed by aquaculture in such areas as water quality. Secondly,
it suggests that the CFP has dealt with environmental matters
in a reactive way, after problems have arisen, and furthermore
that action has been hindered by a lack of scientific knowledge
about the functioning of marine eco-systems. However, it acknowledges
that matters have started to change, with fisheries managers and
the industry itself progressively bringing environmental concerns
into their decisions. More generally, it suggests the ultimate
aim should be to incorporate such elements as the precautionary
principle, the precedence of preventive action, and the need to
rectify environmental damage at source (with emphasis on the responsibility
of those causing that damage). It also considers that there are
currently good opportunities to bring about this kind of change,
due to the broad consensus that the long-term cost of doing nothing
would be unaffordable, and to the current review of the CFP. It
adds that the latter would enable any changes to be accommodated
within the relevant Community rules.
17.4 As to the main elements of an integration
strategy, the Commission says a first and uppermost step would
be a change in attitude, leading to an ecosystem-based approach
to fisheries management, which in turn will depend largely on
the state of scientific knowledge, in particular on the structure
and functioning of marine ecosystems. It adds that it will be
for policy makers to make the best use of such knowledge to establish
a balance between ecosystem conservation and socio-economic needs,
as well as between the short and the long term. Secondly, it stresses
the need to accept the environmental principles set out in Article
174 of the Treaty, but it points out that, apart from the application
of the precautionary principle to the management of fish stocks,
little work has been carried out, and that more needs to be done.
Thirdly, it highlights the need for specific management actions
to be defined, along with adequate monitoring and reporting. It
suggests that the minimum requirements in this respect are set
out in its Communication[36]
on Fisheries Management and Nature Conservation in the Marine
Environment and in its forthcoming Biodiversity Action Plan for
Fisheries.
17.5 The Commission also identifies a range
of topics to be covered. These include:
- "Cross cutting" topics, such as a reduction
in overall fishing pressure, integrated coastal zone management,
control and enforcement, raised awareness (particularly within
the fishing industry), handling the economic and social consequences,
good governance (through decentralisation and stakeholder involvement),
and institutional and functional issues affecting decision making;
- Conservation of marine ecosystems,
through the re-building of commercial fish stocks, but with due
attention being given to the effects on the whole marine ecosystem;
- Research, where it
identifies a need to reduce the gap between the highly specialised
nature of fisheries stock assessment, and the broader aspects
of ecosystem management, with the two sides being brought closer
together in the advice-giving process;
- Structural policy,
providing for the adaptation of fleets to the marine ecosystem;
- Marketing policy,
where the Commission envisages the reduction in market withdrawal
support playing a significant role in encouraging fishermen to
take a more pro-active, preventive role in adapting supply to
the market: similarly trade policy would play a part in
discouraging imports of products which do not comply with international
rules;
- International co-operation,
with the Community taking the lead in fostering environmental
integration within the various regional fisheries organisations;
- Aquaculture, where
action should be taken to promote protection against pollution,
the dissemination of diseases and parasites, and eutrophication,
combined with labelling to indicate the origin and type of production;
and
- The effects of environmental changes on fisheries,
where it says that fishermen can legitimately demand a better
policy as regards water quality.
17.6 The Commission also lays considerable
emphasis on the need to monitor the progress of any integration
strategy. It points out that extensive work has been carried out
in the field of evaluation and indicators within bodies such as
FAO, OECD and the European Environment Agency. It says that the
DPSIR (Driving Forces, Pressure, State, Impact and Response) framework
is becoming widely accepted, and it suggests that work in this
field should be pursued in order to define an operative framework
adapted to the sphere of fisheries and the environment.
The Government's view
17.7 In his Explanatory Memorandum of 24
April 2001, the Parliamentary Secretary (Commons) at the Ministry
of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Mr Elliot Morley) says that
the UK is fully committed to the better integration of environmental
concerns and sustainable development into the CFP, and supports
the presentation of this Communication. He adds that the Commission
has already identified this as a priority for the forthcoming
review of the CFP, and that the UK will seek to ensure that appropriate
action is forthcoming. The Government is currently consulting
with interested parties, and the Minister says that the responses
will help shape the UK's negotiating line.
Conclusion
17.8 Like many similar communications,
this document tends to be repetitive and couched in somewhat general
and unfocussed terms, making it difficult in places to identify
precisely what action is envisaged. Having said that, it deals
with an important subject, which the Commission sees as an integral
part of the forthcoming reform of the Common Fisheries Policy.
For that reason, we regard it as relevant to the debate which
we are recommending in European Standing Committee A on the Commission's
Green Paper setting out its thinking on the future of the Common
Fisheries Policy.[37]
36 (20390) 10078/99; see HC 34-xxxviii (1998-99), paragraph
34 (20 October 1999). Back
37 See
paragraph 1 above. Back
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