Ricardo Guerreiro Balearic Shearwater Zoom In

Stopping seabird deaths in European fisheries: will Ministers push the Commission to act?

20-11-2009

On 20 November 2009 BirdLife International called on EU Fisheries Ministers meeting in Brussels to give a strong political signal that Europe will act now to prevent the world's seabirds from sliding towards extinction due to the impact of fisheries.
European fisheries, both in EU waters and on the high seas beyond EU’s shores, take a massive toll of seabirds through falling foul of a variety of fishing gears. Every year in European waters alone, an estimated 200,000 seabirds are snared, entangled and drowned on longline hooks and in trawls and gill-nets, so-called seabird bycatch. 

BirdLife is dismayed that a decade has passed since the EU first committed to produce a Community Plan of Action to stop such needless deaths, and that it has consistently failed to meet any of its own deadlines for action until now. Meanwhile, huge strides have been made by many other countries around the world in introducing simple technical fixes which prevent seabirds coming into contact with and being killed by fishing gears, with minimal disruption to the fishing activity of vessels.

BirdLife International urges the Ministers to call on the European Commission to propose early in 2010 an ambitious and robust Community Plan of Action to reduce the incidental catch of seabirds in fisheries wherever EU vessels fish at home and overseas. Emergency measures are needed for the most threatened species like the Balearic Shearwater Puffinus mauretanicus, listed as Critically Endangered by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and a victim of longline fishing in the Mediterranean.

“Tackling seabird bycatch is one of the vital steps for making the Common Fisheries Policy ecologically sustainable" —Tatiana Nemcova , BirdLife’s Senior EU Advocacy Officer

Dr Euan Dunn, Head of the RSPB’s marine policy team (BirdLife in the UK), commented: “For far too long there has been paralysis at the heart of Europe over acting to prevent the fatal attraction of seabirds to fishing gears. As we fast approach 2010, the year in which Europe’s leaders committed to halt the loss of biodiversity on land and at sea, we call for urgent and concerted action to safeguard Europe’s seabirds”.

Tatiana Nemcova, BirdLife’s Senior EU Advocacy Officer concluded: “Tackling seabird bycatch is one of the vital steps for making the Common Fisheries Policy ecologically sustainable. Failing to propose action now to stop the needless deaths of seabirds in fisheries would send an unacceptable signal to the European public. It would mean that Ministers are not serious about a radical revamp of the currently discredited CFP”.

If you want to be up-to-date with BirdLife International European stories, register to our electronic Newsletter "BirdLife Europe e-news" by clicking here. Or to hear about news from the global BirdLife network, please click here.