On October 23, the European Parliament voted on their view on the regulation for fisheries subsidies for the period 2014-2020. The voting was preceded by tough negotiations between the various political groups but also between different national approaches.
Alan Cadec (FR , conservative (EPP)), the rapporteur of the Parliament's proposal, belongs to the advocates of more subsidies. The report therefore contained several suggestions for subsidies that threatened to counter the recently agreed basic regulation on fisheries (CFP). This is because the subsidies paid directly to the fleet are likely to increase the capacity of the fishing fleet, leading to reduced profitability in the long run because the fishing quotas are limited and more boats thus will share the same quota.
Parliament voted however against a proposal to give subsidies to construction of new fishing boats and also proposes a cap of 20% of the total amount of subsidies that will go to direct support to the fleet. It also raised the amount of support for data acquisition and control of fisheries, which was very welcome and also prevented the definition of small-scale fisheries to be increased from 12m to 15m boats.
Unfortunately several types of direct subsidies to the fishing fleet remain that will provide support for the replacement of engines, support for boats that are forced to lie still because of various types of closures and support to store fish that cannot be sold.
What remains now are the so-called trilogue negotiations between Parliament, Council of Ministers and the European Commission. Six negotiations are scheduled before the end of the year and the plan is to finalize negotiations during 2013.
To learn more about the fisheries subsidies - click here and read the beginners guide of Fish For the Future.