Debate: Measures to promote the recovery of fish stock above MSY
Date: MONDAY, 18 JANUARY 2021
Speaker: Virginijus Sinkevičius
Language: EN

Yes, more fish in the sea is what we all want and what this planet needs. Our fishermen and women, who go to sea every day to supply us with healthy food from the ocean, are the first to benefit from more fish in the waters, but abundant life in the ocean also plays a crucial role in our fight against climate change. The ocean has absorbed more than 90% of human—generated heat in the last century. It will only keep its ability to protect us if its ecosystems are healthy and rich, with lots of fish in its waters. I also welcome most of the findings of this report. They support the Commission’s approach under the European Green Deal, the Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 and the common fisheries policy. In the past decade, we have achieved significant progress to increase fish stocks in the North—East Atlantic, where the rate of fishing is on average already close to the maximum sustainable yield. However, we are still confronted with overfishing in the Mediterranean Basin. We are starting to make progress there too, with the multiannual plan for demersal stocks in the western Mediterranean and with many measures adopted by the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean, mostly proposed by the EU. Our immediate priority is to build further on that success. In order to further move towards more sustainable fishing in all sea basins, I agree with the report that we need to improve our fisheries management to end overfishing. We need to expand our network of marine protected areas, improve their management and tackle other environmental factors beyond fishing that threaten our fish stocks. When speaking about improving our fisheries management, I fully agree that more data collection is necessary in order to assess the health of our stocks and monitor bycatches of sensitive species like harbour porpoise and dolphins. Bycatch must be eliminated or, where this is not possible, minimised so as not to threaten species conservation status. We need to do everything to better protect sensitive species and sensitive habitats. This is clearly required by the Technical Measures Regulation. The Commission will present, later this year, a report on the implementation of this Regulation and, as announced in the Biodiversity Strategy, an action plan to conserve fishery resources and protect marine ecosystems, which we announced in the Biodiversity Strategy and for which the roadmap will be published very shortly. I agree with the report that we need more sea areas covered by marine protected areas with a more efficient management and control system in order to deliver in the interest of our fishermen and women and to protect marine biodiversity. I hope that the final report, as it will be voted on Thursday, will keep this high level of ambition in terms of sustainable fishing and healthy fish stocks. Regarding the use of the maximum economic yield advocated in the report, I am more cautious. At this stage, the priority is reaching maximum sustainable yield for all stocks, which is also the agreed legal objective of our current common fisheries policy.