Balticsea 2020

Fishery: The European Parliament approves new law on fisheries subsidies

April 21, the European Parliament approved the new European Marine and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), according to Fish Information & Services (FIS). The fund has a budget of 6.5 trillion Euros by 2020, and will help fishermen to meet the objectives of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), including the discard ban (that fish do not get thrown overboard) and funding to more selective fishing gear.

The main objective of the EMFF is to help fishermen in the transition towards a more sustainable fishery and provide support to member countries' scientific data collection and fisheries monitoring.

Next, fisheries ministers at the Council will make a final assumption on the EMFF. The fund will probably enter into force in June 2014. For more information, read the full article here. (Source: Fish Information & Services (FIS)).

BalticSea2020 and fish subsidies
The work of BalticSea2020 has been aiming at phasing out the direct subsidies to the fishing industry, and that aid only should be given to the parts that support management and help the fishing industry at large to become more sustainable. This is because direct subsidies leads to an over-capacity in such number of boats which ultimately means a lower profitability for the industry. Over-capacity can also lead to political pressure to decide on big fishing quotas. For more information, click here.