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Sustainable fisheries and aquaculture is achievable with good data

Date

20 Apr 2016

Sections

Agriculture & Food
Sustainable Dev.
Climate & Environment

The European Parliament’s report on the collection of data in fisheries and aquaculture brings required transparency to the fisheries sector but fails to cover freshwater aquaculture.

On 19 April, the European Parliament’s Committee on Fisheries adopted rapporteur Marco Affronte’s report on the collection of data in fisheries. The European Commission’s original proposal, on the revision of the framework for the collection of data in the fisheries sector, included collecting data on the environmental impacts of fishing and aquaculture production. Unfortunately the European Parliament limited the scope of data collection by excluding freshwater aquaculture.

BirdLife Europe calls for the collection of data on all relevant environmental impacts. For example, in freshwater aquaculture, nutrient runoff needs to be monitored in order to avoid pollution of rivers and lakes. Similarly, marine fisheries must record seabirds that are accidentally caught so that the problem can be assessed and tackled.

Ariel Brunner, Senior Head of Policy at BirdLife Europe, stated: “We are puzzled by the exclusion of freshwater aquaculture from data collection. The EU is planning massive subsidies to increase an activity that can have significant negative impacts ranging from water pollution to introduction of invasive alien species. It would be irresponsible to subsidize such activities without collecting the basic information on their impacts.”

BirdLife Europe now urges all EU institutions to negotiate a final decision that does not exclude data collection of freshwater aquaculture. ENDS

For further information, please contact:

Bruna Campos, EU Marine and Fisheries Policy Officer, BirdLife Europe:

bruna.campos@birdlife.org

+32 (0) 478 88 6420

Zeynep Karasin, Media Officer, BirdLife Europe:

zeynep.karasin@birdlife.org

+32 (0)2 541 07 81

Notes:

[1] BirdLife Europe is a Partnership of nature conservation organisations in 47 countries, including all EU Member States, and a leader in bird conservation. Through its unique local to global approach BirdLife Europe delivers high impact and long term conservation for the benefit of nature and people.

[2] BirdLife Blog – European Seabirds: https://europeanseabirds.wordpress.

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