Your Custom Text Here
The launch on Friday of the report on oceans by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is an opportunity to challenge the ecological credentials of the ‘blue growth’ concept. This dangerously claims that economic growth in ocean industries can be done in a sustainable way. However it is now urgent that this unproven claim is scrutinised, and alternatives to economic growth for ocean economies are given more serious attention.
BP gained permission to start drilling through the world’s largest cold coral reef, situated in the sea off Mauritania. This is despite a campaign by some of the world’s leading marine biologists, who describe BP’s Environmental and Social Impact Assessment as a sham.
CFFA and CAOPA comment on the FAO guidance on social responsibility in fisheries and aquaculture value chains during the public consultation
CFFA supports CAOPA and APRAPAM's request for a concerted approach on the management of shared stocks such as small pelagics and hake
The decision by the EC to impose sanctions on Comoros, and to issue warnings to Liberia, for failing to act responsibly as a flag state, is justified. However, the primary issue in this case is the fact that both countries operate open registries and have demonstrated little ability to control the fishing vessels on these. By looking at the caproate interests behind these registries, it is ambiguous whether imposing sanctions on the flag state is either effective or fair. It is important that further efforts to confront these open registries also bring into the open the hidden vested interests.
The EU's proposed Fishing Authorisation Regulation - or FAR, does not include transparency on beneficial ownership. This is disappointing, particularly given the EU's commitment to providing public access to information on beneficial ownership of all EU registered companies through its directive on anti-money laundering. Here CFFA argues that the EU's Fisheries Committee ought to include this aspect to the FAR, which would put the EU at the forefront of global efforts to address criminal and unethical behaviours in fisheries.
A significant proportion of EU funds used for Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreements is earmarked for sectoral support - helping to develop sustainable fisheries in partner countries. CFFA believes all of the EU's funds for fisheries agreements should be directed to fisheries development, and none should be used to subsidise the EU industry, which is the case now. However, analysis on the effectiveness of this sectoral support suggest considerable improvements are needed. Here we review the problems and offer our ideas on how the EU can make things better.
In this new report, CFFA highlights six areas of concern that demonstrate how incompatible blue growth is with the development of healthy, sustainable artisanal fisheries and how it prevents the advance of the responsible governance of tenure to achieve food security and poverty eradication