By Martin Banks - 4th July 2011
Europe's fishing grounds were once among the most productive in the world
Saskia Richartz
The EU has been urged to adopt a "fundamental" reform of the common fisheries policy.
A group of NGOs claim that current over-fishing in European waters is costing the EU €32bn a year.
The demand comes ahead of publication on 13 July of the commission's much-awaited proposal of the EU's CFP.
Addressing a news conference on Monday, an alliance of environmental NGOs said the era of "over-fishing" in European waters – funded by EU subsidies – should end.
They claimed that in the Atlantic ocean, 62 per cent of stocks were over-fished while this rose to some 82 per cent in the Mediterranean.
Saskia Richartz, of Greenpeace, said, "Europe's fishing grounds were once among the most productive in the world, but 40 years of the CFP have resulted in serious depletion of fish populations, ecosystem degradation and damage to species, habitats and sites supposedly protected by EU environmental legislation.
"Fishing has become unsustainable, increasingly unprofitable and reliant on public subsidies. This in turn has led to poverty in coastal communities and an ever growing reliance on imported fish."
Her comments were echoed by Maria Jose Cornax, of the group Oceana, who said, "Europe's fishing fleets are far too large with a capacity that is two to three times above sustainable levels, according to commission figures.
"The majority of European fishers are small-scale, operating vessels less than 12 metres in length.
"Yet, current policies primarily benefit more destructive, indiscriminate, and fuel-intensive fishing fleets, at the expense of more environmentally sustainable fishing methods."
Another speaker, Louize Hill, of WWF, said, "The CFP should end overfishing, reduce damage to ecosystems and re-build an EU fishing sector that is environmentally sustainable, and socially as well as economically viable.
"Only a fundamental reform will guarantee Europe's consumers a rich variety of responsibly and locally caught fish in the future."
She said the commission was expected to announce a move towards a ban on discards, or those fish which are thrown away.
