Oceana's proposals to put a stop to the dirty fishing

For a reduction in the fishing effort and protection of fishing stocks

• Creation of zones that are closed off to fishing or particular fishing techniques, either temporarily or permanently, with the aim of protecting stocks and the concentration of young fish, as well as spawning, breeding, feeding and growth areas.
• Increase in minumum sizes for marine species, taking as a point of reference scientific knewledge on the earliest age of maturity, preventing the commercialisation of specimens from any kind of species that are under the minimum size required, so that at least 50% of specimens can reproduce.
• Plans to recuperate all stocks with the aim of ensuring, in a worst-case scenario, that the biomass reaches at least 50% of its original size by 2010.
• Implementation of a speciel management plan for deep-sea species that includes the prohibition of bottom trawling recommended by the ICES, the reduction in catches by longliners and other fishing techniques and the establishment of a management system that takes into account the biological peculiarities of these species and their relationship with the ecosystem.
• Making any increase in fishing effort or the opening of new fisheries conditional upon the availability of scientific data that proves, from a precautionary standpoint, that their development is ecologically and socially viable.
• Counting accidental catches and discards as part of TACs and undertaking studies that enable an estimation to be made of creatures damaged after escaping from nets so they can also be included in the TAC.

For an increase in selectivity and on-board observers

• Passing of a law that envisages the closure of fisheries in certain areas or for certain periods of time when the high level of accidental catches or protected species makes it necessary.
• Creation of a programme to reduce the number of multi-species fisheries to only those where the characteristics of the species make it technically impossible otherwise, so long as measures are adopted to reduce accidental catches and discards to a minimum. The EU should not be committing to opening up new markets to accidental catches.
• Creation of a European coastguard service that works both in North Atlantic waters and in collaboration with countries with which fishing agreements have been established.
• Increase in investment in and coverage of on-board observers to encompass 100% of the fishing boats working on the high seas or in third-country waters, as well as on-board observation programmes that allow sufficiently representative and reliable data to be obtained on the coastal fisheries where it is known or suspected that high levels of accidental catches and discards occur, such as by pelagic trawling and bottom trawling.
• A programme to eliminate accidental catches and discards to ensure that these do not exceed one million tonnes from European vessels by 2007.

For fishing agreements

• Termination of fishing agreements that do not fulfil the requirements laid down by the FAO Code of Conduct and the United Nations Law of the Sea, as well as those in which the agreed methods of conservation are based on lower standards than those in place in the country of origin.
• Elimination of subsidies aimed at exporting overcapacity by means of creating joint ventures.
• Passing of laws that allow any member country of the EU to prosecute any European company or individual involved in illegal, uncontrolled or unregulated fishing ( IUU fisheries ) and the withdrawal of economic aid or any other kind of material or tax benefit.

For the protection of benthos and areas of special interest

• Legal protection for the benthonic ecosystems of greatest ecological value, including deep-sea corals and sponges, maërl beds and coralligenous formations, kelp forests, marine seagrass meadows, polychaete communities, vermetid reefs, and other biogenic reefs.
• Creation of at least 100 new protected marine areas by 2007, to include coastal and deep sea ecosystems.
• Inclusion on the list of EU protected species and habitats of all the species that create coral reefs and habitats of marine interest ( maërl, coralligenous formations, kelp forests, coral reefs, sponges, seagrass, etc. ).
• Basing the Common Fisheries Policy on fishing systems and techniques that take into consideration environmental, social, economic and cultural benefits.
• Creation of a " Zone os Special Fishing Interest " chart to include key spawning, breeding and feeding areas for species of commercial interest, with a specific management system that regulates which activities can be carried out in them and when these may be carried out.