The ‘exchange of views’ will be the latest stage on the long road to reform of a policy that currently subjects 88% of European stocks to overfishing and leaves almost a third endangered.

Maria Damanaki, the European commissioner for fisheries and maritime affairs, plans to publish legal proposals in early 2011, so that a new law can come into force in 2013. On Monday, she will outline to ministers the results of a year-long consultation on fisheries reform.

Fish v jobs

An unpublished draft of this document shows that conflict is already surfacing over whether the new fisheries law should prioritise conserving fish over protecting jobs. Joe Borg, Damanaki’s predecessor, argued in a green paper published last year that environmental sustainability should be the top priority for the policy, ahead of social and economic concerns.

Member states’ views diverge, the consultation reveals. Some countries agree with the European Commission that ecological goals should be “the core objective”, but others favour giving equal weight to social and economic issues. The European Parliament has already said that it opposes prioritising objectives.

The Commission received nearly 400 contributions, including some from government departments and/or parliaments in most EU member states with a coastline, regional bodies, non-EU countries, the fishing industry and green and animal-welfare pressure groups.

Too many boats

There is broad agreement that the EU has too many boats, but differing views on how to remedy this. The Parliament is keen on subsidised boat-scrapping schemes, but several member states are opposed to this idea.

The Commission would like to end the current arrangement, which requires ministers to take detailed decisions on quotas and fishing rules, and that can mean ministers decide on questions as specific as mesh size.

Devolution

Consultation responses show general support for devolving power to regional bodies, but a wide variety of ideas about how to do this in practice. The Parliament, which has gained new powers on fisheries policy under the Lisbon treaty, is wary of EU institutions ceding too much power.

The fisheries industry is also keen to end micro-management, but not if it means fishermen take the blame for the failure of fisheries management.

Discussions among fisheries ministers will continue next month at an informal meeting in the Spanish coastal town of Vigo (4-5 May).

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