SENAT
Report n° 132 (2008-2009) by M. Marcel-Pierre CLEACH, Senator (for the parliament office for the evaluation of scientific and technological choices)
Disponible au format Acrobat (822 Koctets)
TEN PROPOSALS
FOR SUSTAINABLE FISHING
1. Re-establish the dialogue between scientists, fishermen and political decision-makers to reach a consensual diagnosis of the state of the fish stocks and of the fisheries :
1.1. Develop partnerships ( contrats bleus or "blue contracts", fish surveys, experimenting with selective methods as alternatives to trawling, etc.).
1.2. Incorporate this objective for the reopening of dialogue into the four-year contract between IFREMER and the French government.
1.3. Evaluate researchers regarding their capacity to carry out projects in partnership with fishing professionals and to explain their results to fishermen.
2. Reform the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), to manage the halieutic resources in a more responsible manner:
2.1. Respect scientific assessments regarding TACs and quotas and justify any decisions made to depart from them.
2.2. Enforce the TACs and quotas and the fishing regulations via effective monitoring and sanctioning.
2.3. Render the TACs and quotas predictable over a period of several years , to as great an extent as possible.
2.4. Abandon the culture of "free-riding".
2.5. Reduce fishing capacities according to the state of the stocks and taking into account technological advances.
2.6. Reduce or eliminate rejections and incidental catches by improving selectivity and developing fisheries management so as not to harm the ships' profitability.
2.7. Make fishermen the owners and managers of their resources: experiment with individual transferable quotas (ITQs).
3. Improve the economic profitability of fishing and wean the sector from government assistance.
4. Manage ecosystems globally:
4.1. Support research to implement the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries (EAF).
4.2. Develop a network of Marine Protected Areas , as a tool to protect the marine environment and to manage the halieutic resources.
5. Allow for the emergence of a sustainable form of aquaculture:
5.1. By supporting research to:
- lower the fishing pressure on wild resources;
- mitigate the impact on the natural environment;
- develop new aquacultural species.
5.2. In addition, allow for the development of aquaculture in France via the elimination of administrative hurdles.
6. Promote the sustainable consumption of fish and seafood via:
6.1. Educational initiatives , in cooperation with both fishing professionals and scientists, such as the distribution of recommended-product lists .
6.2. Local, cooperative initiatives for fish and seafood .
6.3. The development in France of a European-wide or international ecolabel .
6.4. The mobilization of consumers and recreational fishermen via the distribution of a "fish-meter" to combat the catching of undersized fish .
7. More strictly regulate recreational fishing:
7.1. Establish a set of regulations that is consistent with professional fishing and that seeks, in particular, to limit the fishing of recovering stocks.
7.2. Preserve the athletic, ethical and "family-oriented" nature of sport fishing by more strictly limiting the authorized seasons, devices and quantities.
7.3. Create , eventually, an exam-based licence for recreational saltwater fishing , based on the hunting licence.
7.4. More rigorously monitor the gathering of shellfish , particularly during the spring tides.
8. Amend Article 30 of the "Grenelle I" bill, so as to:
8.1. More strictly regulate recreational fishing .
8.2. Allow for a rapid experimentation with ITQs, by reconsidering the non-patrimonial nature of access rights (Law of 18 November 1997).
9. Create a joint committee on "marine fisheries and cultures" with French members of Parliament (Senate, National Assembly and European Parliament).
10. Take action at the international level:
10.1. Make fisheries management a theme of the Union for the Mediterranean .
10.2. Fight piracy , beginning with European-based operations.
10.3. Prevent the collapse of the Mediterranean bluefin tuna stock, by:
- setting TACs and quotas based upon scientific assessments;
- reducing fishing capacity;
- closing the European Union to tuna fished over the authorized quota;
- sanctions by the European Commission against EU-member states and by Europe against non-member states which do not respect the fishing regulations in place;
- c reating sanctuaries , like those which already exist for marine mammals, taking into account that, ideally, the fisheries should be completely closed during the reproductive period (May and June), for a few years;
- supporting research on the bluefin tuna.