The EU has promised to attract young people to jobs in the fisheries sector by offering better pay and conditions.
The ideas are laid out in the European Commission’s ‘Vision for fisheries and aquaculture towards 2040’ which has just been published.
The EU believes that modernising the fishing fleet, embracing zero emissions and new technology will be the future for the sector.
Speaking in the European Parliament, European Commission Executive Vice President Raffaele Fitto said the aim was to ensure a thriving fisheries and aquaculture sector and coastal communities.
“Europe’s fisheries and aquaculture sector is vital to the prosperity and identity of our coastal communities. With our Vision 2040, we are setting a course towards a sector that is competitive, sustainable and fit for the future,” he said.
The 15-year blueprint seeks to address “structural challenges” by promoting fleet modernisation, improved safety, and harmonising training standards across the European Union.
Under the next long term EU budget, the European Commission says that at least €2 billion will be reserved for fisheries.
The EU also wants the fishing industry to move towards net zero emissions over the next decade.
“The CFP [Common Fisheries Policy] already provides the tools we need; what is missing is the political will to use them fully and the funding to make the transition possible,” said Dr Monica Verbeek, from the environmental group, Seas At Risk.
“The Commission has stepped up today as a leader in the right direction. Now together with Member States it must deliver on the rules already in place, not reopen them to further uncertainty,” Verbeek said.
But Seafood Ireland Alliance (SIA) said the European Commission’s Vision 2040 is “lacking ambition”.
Aodh O’Donnell from the Irish Fish Producers’ Organisation (IFPO) said: “Once again, we have another Commission document that brushes over the multiple issues inherent in the CFP and advocates to keep it in place for another 15 years.
The European fishing industry will not survive under such a scenario.”
Seafood Ireland Alliance said the European Commission’s Vision comes as “fleet profitability is declining year-on-year, fleets are ageing, operating costs rising and investment back into the industry is at an all-time low. These are chronic problems, and solutions are needed both in the short and longer term to halt the downward trends.”
“A strategy that relies on the same overarching and outdated policy will not deliver these solutions.”
The SIA comprises the Irish Fish Producers’ Organisation (IFPO), the Killybegs Fishermen’s Organisation (KFO), the Irish South & West Fish Producers’ Organisation (IS&WFPO), the Irish South & East Fish Producers’ Organisation (IS&EFPO) and the Irish Fish Processors & Exporters Association.
European Commission Executive Vice President Raffaele Fitto: