Memorandum by the National Federation
of Sea Anglers
1. INTRODUCTION
Recreational sea angling (RSA) has been recognised
as a major stakeholder in the sustainable exploitation of marine
resources only since the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) was reformed
in 2002.
RSA was not considered in that 2002 reform.
This is a continuation of the status quo where RSA has
historically been denied recognition in the Policy since its inception
50 years ago.
The sea angling community is, therefore, anxious
to provide the Committee with the reasons why it considers RSA
should be regarded under the CFP as an integral part of the EU
fishing industry.
A precedent for declaring RSA to be a part of
the fishing industry was set in Britain in the joint UK report
Securing the Benefits, published in June 2005. This was the response
to the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit report Net Benefits of 2004
which first revealed the extent of the socio-economic importance
of RSA.
2. ISSUES RAISED
BY THE
COMMITTEE
Given that RSA is not represented in the CFP,
it is only possible for the sea angling community to address two
of the 11 important issues raised in the Committee's Call for
Evidence, because the rest apply essentially to the commercial
fishing industry.
On these two issues, numbers 10 and 11 under
Governance, we wish to make the following comments:
a) Regional Advisory Councils (RACs) are
a step in the right direction (away from central decision making
in Brussels). However, their composition needs some rebalancing
to enable everyone with a stake in EU marine resources, including
RSA, to be involved in management decisions.
For instance, two-thirds of the members of the
North Sea RAC represent the commercial catching sector and they
are unlikely to willingly consider the recreational sector despite
its high importance in the countries involved in this RAC—
Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, Spain,
Sweden and the UK.
b) We believe a system of regional managements
would be both feasible and appropriate. Angling differs from area
to area and is not amenable to centralised regulatory decisions.
For this reason 12 sea fisheries committees regulate
fishing and environmental protection within six miles of the coast
of England and Wales. We would like to see their remit extended
to 12 miles and their powers and composition changed to ensure
RSA and commercial fishing are considered equally and the number
of these committees maintained.
In this regard it may be worth noting that in
its Consultation on an RSA Strategy for England published in December
2007, Defra stated that while historically RSA had been under-represented
in fisheries management, it was increasingly recognised as a significant
activity contributing both socially and economically to national
and coastal economies.
Management adequately reflecting the needs of
RSA alongside other stakeholders at national, regional and local
levels was needed. We believe that the same sentiments should
apply equally across the EU.
3. A RECENT DEVELOPMENT
Since originally submitting this evidence to
the Committee, we have been made aware that on 24 February 2008
the EU did in fact come a step closer to recognising recreational
sea angling through the publication of a Council Regulation. This,
for the first time as far as we know, defined the "fisheries
sector" as activities related to commercial fisheries, recreational
fisheries (our emphasis) aquaculture and industries processing
fisheries products, and further stated that "recreational
fisheries" means non-commercial fishing activities exploiting
living aquatic resources for recreation.
This document was Council Regulation (EC) No
199/2008 establishing "a Community framework for the collection
management and use of data in the fisheries sector and support
for scientific advice regarding the Common Fisheries Policy."
This recognition of our activities though welcome,
is not the same as being recognised by the CFP or the EU Treaty
and we believe that RSA needs still needs to be properly recognised
at a high level as a legitimate stakeholder in the work of the
CFP. In our view this needs to be both a government objective
and an objective of the RSA sector itself.
4. BACKGROUND
TO RSA AND
THE CFP
Our purpose in offering evidence to the Committee
is to provide an insight into the high value of RSA in the coastal
economies of Europe, and to ask the Committee to consider expressing
a view on the importance of RSA alongside the commercial industry,
in the future management and/or reform of the CFP.
The CFP is intended to cover the conservation
and exploitation of marine fisheries. While there are a number
of stakeholders in this, the commercial fishing industry has always
been seen as the primary claimant.
We argue strongly that since RSA, like commercial
fishing, is an exploitation activity it should receive due and
proportionate consideration in future within the CFP.
Sea angling has a minor impact on the environment
and on fish stocks compared to the huge tonnages of fish regularly
taken commercially from EU waters and the damage done to habitats
by trawling.
RSA does not add to the alarmingly high numbers
of fish and other living aquatic resources discarded dead into
the sea by commercial vessels because they have no market value.
We note that discards and bycatch is one of the questions the
Committee will be considering.
5. THE ECONOMIC
VALUE OF
RSA
Recreational sea angling has an exceptionally
high socio-economic value which its proponents believe strongly
deserves to be preserved and encouraged to grow.
It is notoriously difficult to obtain accurate
statistics on fishing activities (a recent Court of Auditors report
found catch data to be unreliable). However, the latest figures
available to us show that annual revenue from commercial marine
fishing in the EU is about €9 billion including aquaculture
or fish farming.
In contrast, the European Angling Alliance estimates
there are 8-10 million sea anglers in the EU supporting a related
industry worth up to €10 billion. These figures have not
been challenged. The EU Commission in its Marine Policy estimated
the value of salt water angling as €8-€10 billion.
We submit that knowledge of the economic value
of RSA, its growth potential and low environmental impact, will
assist officials managing the CFP to make informed decisions on
the exploitation of marine resources.
A report in February 2008 by Fiskeriverket,
the Swedish national fisheries agency, stated that RSA contributes
ten times as much to that nation's economy than does commercial
fishing. There are an estimated one million recreational anglers
and 1,300 businesses serving angling tourism in Sweden, and about
1,000 commercial fishermen.
In England and Wales alone 19,000 jobs are supported
by sea angling (Defra report into the economic impact of recreational
sea angling, 2004) and in Europe (again using the figures of the
European Angling Alliance) the sea angling tackle trade alone
is worth €2 billion.
6. THE FUTURE:
RSA AND THE
CFP
It is, of course, difficult to make a strict
comparison between commercial fishing (an extractive industry)
and RSA (a leisure activity). However, we believe the figures
we have given clearly show RSA to be an important economic activity.
Crucially it depends upon the same publicly
owned resources (the fish in the seas) as the commercial industry,
to maintain this economic value.
We submit, therefore, that in the future management
of the CFP the EU should consider whether commercial fishing (we
would say overfishing) of the seas is always the best economic
use of marine resources. A fish caught by an angler is usually
worth much more to the local economy than a similar fish caught
commercially at the same place.
The result of the carefree regime under which
the commercial industry operated for many years now threatens
the survival of many species. This is impacting the legitimate
leisure activities of millions of sea anglers and the sustainability
of the many businesses which support sea angling.
Dr. Joe Borg, the European Commissioner for
Fisheries and Maritime Affairs, said on 21 February this year:
"If we don't act now all our work to bring fishing back to
sustainable levels will be seriously undermined."
Recreational fishers have witnessed the decline
of fish stocks and in particular have suffered from the reduction
in the number of larger mature fish of many species. Many have
expressed their concerns as they have noticed the deterioration
in their catches over the years.
The decimation of fish stocks through commercial
overfishing remains the greatest threat to the future of RSA and
of commercial fishing itself.
7. CFP ACTIONS
RSA WOULD WELCOME
Primarily RSA wants the CFP to recognise that
its activities and the industry it supports, are legitimate stakeholders
in the fishing industry and for this to lead to such changes as:
i) A CFP commitment to the regeneration of
fish stocks to a healthy and sustainable level in a given time
frame. Part of this should be a revised minimum landing size (MLS)
regime under which the MLS for all species targeted by commercial
and recreational fishers would be set to stop immature fish being
taken. This would substantially increase the brood stock which
is an essential step towards stock regeneration.
ii) Funds being made available to improve
charter angling boats, just as money is available to improve (or
decommission) commercial boats.
iii) A definition of how much environmental
damage caused by commercial fishing, especially by trawling, can
be tolerated. This is often referred to as "ploughing up
the seabed."
iv) More emphasis on certifying sustainable
and environmentally acceptable commercial fishing practices such
as line fishing for mackerel and bass.
10 March 2008
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