APPENDIX 3
Memorandum submitted by the RSPCA (K9)
INTRODUCTION
1. The Royal Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) is concerned by the incidental entanglement
and subsequent death of thousands of cetaceans (dolphins, porpoises
and whales), sea birds, turtles and sharks annually in the nets
of the EU's fishing fleets.
2. A report released by the RSPCA in 2000
highlighted the deaths of over 7,000 harbour porpoises in set
nets around the coasts of Britain each year. These animals can
remain conscious for some time while struggling in the net, incurring
injuries such as skin lacerations, broken teeth and bones, internal
haemorrhaging and eventual death from an inability to reach the
surface to breathe. Research conducted since 2000 has confirmed
common dolphin deaths in the UK sea bass pair trawl fishery and
in a trial Irish albacore tuna pair trawl fishery (where 30 dolphins
died in one haul).
3. The problem of cetacean by-catch continues,
whilst other species of protected wildlife also die in fishing
nets. The Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) requires that Member
States monitor the incidental deaths of various species of wildlife
listed in Annex IV(a) of the Directive; this includes all cetaceans.
Member States are required to take measures to ensure that these
incidental deaths do not have a significant negative impact on
the species.
4. Dolphins and porpoises are present in
far lower numbers around our shores than in the past and such
declines may continue unless the Common Fisheries Policy reform
is used to introduce mandatory protection for these species. The
Commission addresses this issue within the Community Action Plan
to integrate environmental protection requirements into the Common
Fisheries Policy (COM/2002/0186/final). In so doing it has not
presented a formal Regulation but instead provided an indication
of the timescale over which legislation to reduce by-catch should
be introduced.
COMMUNITY ACTION
PLAN ON
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
Priority Measures
5. The RSPCA welcomes the Commission's plan
for proposals to protect cetaceans, sharks and seabirds from detrimental
fishing practices, and to give high priority to the reduction
of fishing activities that adversely affect non-commercial species
and habitats. For this to be carried out, population estimates
and estimates of by-catch rates of these species are essential.
However many States are not collecting systematic by-catch data
and reliable population estimates of cetaceans are lacking. Therefore
the Commission's target to produce by 31 December 2002 technical
conservation measures to reduce wildlife by-catch seems unlikely
to be fulfilled. There is concern that without compulsory monitoring
for all Member States, the required information will not be collected
sufficiently rapidly for the formulation of technical conservation
measures within the near future.
6. Any technical conservation measures to
preserve wildlife must be applicable to all EU vessels and incorporated
into the proposed Community strategy for distant water fisheries.
Complementary Measures
7. The RSPCA welcomes the Commission's plan
to extend management measures to the protection of non-commercial
species. Its acknowledgement of the importance of the application
of the precautionary principle can be used to insist that conservation
measures are introduced as a priority even in the absence of data
confirming that populations of cetaceans are declining through
by-catch in fisheries.
8. However Member States must be strongly
encouraged to carry out the obligatory monitoring as per the Habitats
Directive (92/43/EEC), which requires that Member States monitor
the incidental deaths of species of wildlife, including all cetaceans,
listed in Annex IV(a) of the Directive. Though the Action Plan
highlights this requirement under other Community legislation,
it does not in itself introduce mandatory requirement for this
work to be carried out.
9. The Action Plan states that the Commission
and Member States should keep the wider public well informed about
the situation of fisheries and aquaculture. However it must also
formalise a process of consultation between all interested bodies
and stakeholders, establishing working groups composed of scientists,
fisheries industry, government and environmental groups to facilitate
the development of by-catch reduction programmes.
MONITORING AND
EVALUATION
10. The Commission proposes a process for
monitoring and evaluating the progress of the environmental performance
of fisheries management. However such a monitoring system is proposed
to come into effect in 2003, with the aim of providing a report
to the Council and European Parliament by the end of 2005. There
is no indication of a time-scale over which a Regulation to reduce
cetacean by-catch will be formulated or introduced, nor how this
monitoring will contribute to such a formulation. Any delay in
this monitoring and evaluation process may result in the subsequent
delay of a Regulation still further.
CONSULTATION
11. The RSPCA welcomes the Commission's
plan to consult widely at the initial stages of the decision process
and believes that such consultation should not be restricted to
pre-established committees or Regional Advisory Councils but should
be open to input from all interested groups.
TARGETS AND
TIMETABLES
12. A target of 31 December 2002 is provided
for the formulation of new technical conservation measures relevant
to the reduction in cetacean by-catch levels, to achieve favourable
conservation status of cetacean populations. A proposal for a
Council Regulation to address this issue must be put forward at
the earliest possible opportunity.
CONCLUSION
13. The RSPCA welcomes the Action Plan as
a first step towards introducing a Regulation to monitor and reduce,
ultimately to zero, the incidental catches of dolphins and porpoises
currently known to occur in EU fisheries. However it is essential
that Member States comply with EC Directives and carry out monitoring
of their own fleets to assess the scale of the by-catch problem.
The Commission must be encouraged to produce at the earliest opportunity
a proposed Regulation to implement by-catch reduction strategies
in all fisheries shown to generate cetacean by-catch. The problem
of cetacean by-catch must be addressed both in terms of conservation
of the species affected and welfare of the individuals that die
within the nets.
30 September 2002
| 
