Have Your Say

The public debate and consultation on the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) launched by the European Commission’s Directorate General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG Mare) is over.

The Commission will now summarise the results and will then draw conclusions about how to carry the reform forward. This analysis should be ready by the first quarter of 2010. The contributions and the analysis of the results will be available at: http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/reform.

Meanwhile, all contributions received can be viewed on the DG Mare website.

Although the public consultation may be over, the Commission will organize specific consultations on issues arising for the reform process. These may be organized as part of the regular consultations with stakeholders through the Advisory Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture (ACFA), or through specific consultations and workshops.

It’s therefore important for the stakeholders in the sector, the men and women workers, entrepreneurs and organizational representatives, to keep a close watch on events over the next few months, and to ensure that they and/or their representatives engage in the reform process.

On January 25 the Commission will organize a Seminar on Rights Based Management; and on February 25 a Seminar on Small Scale Fisheries will be organized. For further information contact contact Mr Erik Lindebo (erik.lindebo@ec.europa.eu) or Mr Casto Lopez-Benitez (Casto.Lopez-Benitez@ec.europa.eu) or consult the “Events” page.

Also the Fisheries Committee of the European Parliament will organize further public debates following the December 1 2009 Public Hearing on the Green Paper on the Reform of the Common Fisheries Policy. The Parliament’s contribution to the public debate – the report on the Green Paper – will be put to a committee vote in January. The plenary vote is scheduled for the end of February.  For more information contact Claudio Quaranta (claudio.quaranta@europarl.europa.eu) or consult the “Events” page.

In order to make their voices heard, and to ensure that their rights are duly recognized in the reform process, small-scale fishers and their representatives need to form alliances with their counterparts in other parts of Europe. Over the next few months ICSF plans to facilitate a process to “strengthen and formalize small-scale fisheries networks”. This will build on the consensus achieved at the Brussels Workshop and take forward the issues raised in Brussels Declaration.