06/05/2011

EU: WWF and its allies call for real reform of the EU's Fisheries Policy (also of subsidies?)

Just before the start of the European Seafood Exhibition in Brussels the WWF posted on its website a leaflet on the above subject with as head title "A shared vision for sustainable European fisheries"

I went through it and to my great surprise I did not find the "s" word, i.e. subsidy, subsidies, (financial) support. So, this piece of policy (not negligible) does not appear in this document. You could read such absence in different ways. One could be: subsidies must go, they should disappear, so do not mentioned them. The other way of reading the document would be: do not touch subsidies, keep them as they are (or at least at the same level). Another way of looking at it would suggest that, as subsidies are such a contentious issue, it is better not to address them. 
  

I found also interesting the sentence that reads as follows:
"This reform should seek to maximise the economic benefits for society through the sustainable management of these vital and renewable resources for future food security."
 This sounds like agriculture. Would this mean that the EU has to ensure that it can be self sufficient in its supply of fish products, for food security purposes?

At any rate, the EU subsidses the production of the leaflet! Should we call this a virtuous (or good, or green) fisheries subsidy? I leave the answer to the readers of this blog.

Here are a few links on this document:

http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/how_we_work/policy/wwf_europe_environment/initiatives/fisheries/fisheries_policy/wwf_industry_alliance_cfp/

http://www.wwf.eu/fisheries/cfp_reform/?194279/WWF-and-its-Allies-call-for-real-reform-in-European-Fisheries

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