Debate: Impact on fisheries of marine litter
Date: WEDNESDAY, 24 MARCH 2021
Speaker: Virginijus Sinkevičius
Language: EN

I could not agree more with the findings of the report that assess the dimension of marine litter and the detrimental impact it has on marine ecosystems. While the report correctly underlines that more than 80% of marine waste stems from activities on land, we very much welcome the fact that the report covers both sea- and land-based sources of pollution. All this waste is not only a direct threat to our oceans and seas and the rich biodiversity they host, but also to the future of the fishery sectors and thus of all fishermen and women who go to sea day-by-day and provide us with healthy food from the ocean. The annual costs of marine litter to fisheries in the EU are estimated at EUR 57 million. Only a clean, healthy, productive and biologically diverse marine environment can provide the basis for the important work of our fishers, shellfish gatherers, aquaculture producers and ultimately satisfy the needs of consumers. When it comes to the responses to the threat from marine litter, I agree that a holistic approach is necessary. In this respect, close and constructive cooperation between the different stakeholders is key to fully ensure and exploit the synergies between the various legislations already in place. We are now in the important implementation phase of both the Single-use Plastics and the Port Reception Facilities directives. Both will contribute to a significant reduction of marine pollution in our seas. Let me focus tonight on three key points which you also mentioned in your report. Firstly, with the legislation already in place and with the additional ambitious actions foreseen in the circular economy action plan, the biodiversity strategy in the upcoming zero-pollution action plan, we are addressing many, if not most, of your recommendations. Under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive we established the first threshold value for beach litter last September. This means that a beach will need to have less than 20 litter items for every 100 metres of coastline to reach good environmental status. More of these values will be agreed in the near future for surface water litter, seabed litter and microplastics. This will also help achieve the objectives defined in the Single-use Plastics Directive and the circular economy action plan. We are now embarking on the review of this Marine Strategy Framework Directive. Building on these achievements, we will need to address the shortcomings we identify, notably concerning the determination of good environmental status, and further mainstream the directive’s objectives into other policies. Moreover, the zero-pollution action plan we are to adopt in May will strengthen our resolve to fight pollution of all kinds, including at sea, and to reduce it to levels that are no longer harmful for both humans and biodiversity. To do so we will look at strengthening the implementation of existing instruments and where necessary review them. We will address pollutants of emerging concern and we will also set up an integrated framework for zero-pollution monitoring and outlook. As regards microplastics, we have already made progress towards restriction where they are intentionally added to products. We are currently assessing the recent opinion by the European Chemicals Agency on this matter. We are also advancing work on intentional releases of microplastics and will consider labelling, standardisation, certification and regulatory measures. Secondly, I fully agree that there are still important knowledge gaps and that research and innovation play a crucial role here. In this context, I want to highlight the oceans, seas and waters mission under our Horizon Europe programme. It’s objective is to scale up solutions and accelerate the transition towards restoring the health of our marine and aquatic ecosystems. Furthermore, other parts of Horizon Europe will be looking at improving fisheries monitoring and control capabilities by developing new technological solutions, for instance, including the improvement of fishing gear. In parallel, our ongoing work on ocean observation aims at improving the collection of more coherent, better and less costly marine data, which is the backbone of an effective ocean policy. Thirdly, marine litter has no borders and today even the most remote islands are polluted by marine litter. And therefore I agree that we need to step up our international efforts. The Commission continues to lead efforts at international level to reach a global agreement on plastics, to prevent and reduce plastic pollution. The agreement would cover the entire life cycle of plastic, especially the upstream part, and place the focus on prevention. We are working towards the next session of the United Nations Environment Assembly in February next year, where we hope that an intergovernmental negotiating committee will be established at the launch of the formal negotiation process. We also adopted new rules on the export-import and intra-EU shipment of plastic waste following the agreement under the Basel Convention. This is an important milestone in fighting plastic pollution. The export of plastic waste is now only allowed under very strict conditions. The export of unsorted plastic waste to non-OECD countries is completely banned. Before closing, I also want to recall that we are actively engaging with our fishermen and women to raise awareness and promote best practices regarding the collection of marine litter. Our current and future European maritime fisheries and aquaculture fund provides for funding of fishing-for-litter schemes. In the current period a total of EUR 22 million was allocated from the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund to such schemes in seven coastal Member States, and we are actively encouraging Member States to promote such schemes in their national programmes for the new programming period. We hope we can also count on your support in promoting these schemes and in your contacts with the sector and of course your national authorities. Finally let me once again congratulate and thank you for your excellent work on this very important issue, which indeed deserves our full attention and commitment. We all have to join forces to ensure that our oceans remain clean and healthy so that they can continue to provide us with oxygen to absorb CO2 and to be our ally in the fight against climate change, to feed us and to be the foundation of our coastal communities’ prosperity and our citizens’ well-being. And I’m looking forward to working closely with you and with your constituencies to add this important touch of blue to our Green Deal.