Mick Wallace debates a sustainable blue economy in the EU with fisheries & aquacultures

Mick Wallace (The Left). – Mr President, I’d like to thank the rapporteur for her report. She talks about the impact of the loss of marine biodiversity, protected marine areas and the need for balanced development, the role of international governance and she talks about coastal communities.

We’re in a strange place in Ireland because, as my colleague has already pointed out, fishermen in Ireland have been shafted for years. We sold out our fishing rights in return for subsidies for dairy and beef a long time ago. And the fishermen have never got a fair deal ever since.

When we’re introducing rules and regulations for fishermen across Europe, we need to take on board the unique position of Irish fishing, which has not been given a fair deal. And, going forward, whatever way we’re going to tackle this, the fishermen have to be part of the solution and you can’t just regard them as part of the problem.

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The 2021 assessment of the common fisheries policy shows that Europe’s fisheries are continuing to become more sustainable. This means that consumers have more access to healthy and sustainable food, fishermen and women continue to have a reliable source of income and the sector itself is becoming more resilient.
Furthermore, consumer demand for low environmental footprint and short supply chains is growing. At the same time, the growing efforts made by fishermen/women and fish farmers to achieve product quality need to be rewarded by the market. The farm to fork action plan includes initiatives on a sustainable food-labelling framework that will enable consumers to make informed choices. An EU code of conduct for responsible business and marketing in the food supply chain will also seek ambitious commitments from the middle part of the chain, which will uphold the sustainability efforts of fishermen/ women and fish-farmers and ultimately make seafood value chains permanently sustainable. To strengthen the position of consumers and help ensure that the EU market for fisheries and aquaculture products is a level playing field, EU seafood marketing standards will be modernised, building sustainable food systems in the blue economy.

Despite this strengthening, some challenges still remain, and Commissioner Sinkevičius stated earlier this year that there is still a long way to go by highlighting the exploitation of the Mediterranean and Black Seas. To combat this, the Commission recently adopted a proposal for sustainable fishing opportunities for 2022 in the Mediterranean and the Black Seas. The ambition is to achieve sustainable fisheries in these two sea basins, by making sure that all fish catches are fully reliant on scientific advice and are in line with the recently adopted 2030 Strategy of the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM). The regulation should apply as of January 1st 2022 and will bring Europe’s seas closer to reaching sustainable levels.
Achieving coherence between the European Green Deal, the Recovery Plan for Europe, the Fark to Fork Strategy and the Blue Economy is paramount for a sustainable future. As Commissioner Sinkevičius states, “there is no Green Deal without the oceans, no green recovery without the blue economy.”