Will a "CFP tomorrow" support sustainable artisanal fisheries in Africa?

PRESS RELEASE

On 21 February, the Commission presented several measures to improve the sustainability of the EU fisheries and aquaculture sector. It includes four elements: Energy Transition, an Action Plan to protect and restore marine ecosystems, a Communication on the common fisheries policy today and tomorrow and a Report on the Common Market Organisation for fishery and aquaculture products.

● 2022 was the International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture. Small-scale fishing organisations from Africa, America, Asia, Europe and the Pacific launched a Call to action giving their governments for 5 priorities of action by 2030.

● On the one hand, the blue economy approach pushes for the development of other ocean uses, and on the other, fisheries are increasingly directed by environmental and food systems policies; this is causing fisheries to drop to a lower priority. However, in Africa, small-scale fisheries produce food and give livelihoods to millions of people. The fishers are concerned and have coined this “blue fear”.

● EU policies that shape fisheries relations with African countries, including SFPAs and positions in RFMOs, blue economy, aid, and trade should ensure that artisanal fisheries are supported and protected adequately.

Today, the European Commission has presented a package of measures “to improve the sustainability and resilience of the EU's fisheries and aquaculture sector”: a Communication on the common fisheries policy today and tomorrow, a Report on the Common Market Organisation for fishery and aquaculture products, a Communication on the Energy Transition of the EU Fisheries and Aquaculture sector and an Action Plan to protect and restore marine ecosystems for sustainable and resilient fisheries.

Reformed in 2013, the current Common Fisheries Policy is based on three pillars: the Common Fisheries Policy basic regulation (Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013), which provides a framework, in its chapter on external dimension, at the EU positions in Regional Fisheries Management Organisations and at Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreements (SFPAs); the Common Organisation of the Markets in fishery and aquaculture products (Regulation (EU) No 1379/2013) and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (Regulation (EU) No 508/2014) which serves as a financial tool to help implement them.

The Regulation on the sustainable management of external fishing fleets - SMEFF (Regulation (EU) 2017/2403) complements the regulatory framework and lays down the rules governing the activities of EU fishing fleets in non-EU and international waters, establishing common eligibility requirements for EU vessels operating abroad, including direct agreements between Member States’ companies and third countries.

For CFFA, the question is whether the “CFP tomorrow” will play a positive role towards sustainable artisanal fisheries development in African countries. Indeed, the International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture (IYAFA) in 2022, has been a springboard for the world artisanal fishing communities, including in Africa, to show the key role they play for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. African artisanal fisheries make an irreplaceable contribution to the society, providing jobs for thousands, food for millions, keeping alive a culture that makes African coastal communities resilient. Therefore, EU policies that shape fisheries relations with African countries, including SFPAs and positions in RFMOs, blue economy, aid, trade should ensure that artisanal fisheries are supported and protected adequately.

The EU is also called to action in support of artisanal fisheries

In 2022, a network of artisanal fisheries organisations, including the African Confederation of Artisanal Fishing Organisations (CAOPA), launched a Call to Action, addressed to all governments, to do more in favor of artisanal fisheries. They have jointly identified five priorities areas for government to put into action by 2030:

1. Give preferential access to resources for artisanal fisheries and ensure 100% of coastal areas are put under co-management;

2. Recognise and promote the role and participation of women in fisheries;

3. Protect artisanal fisheries from competing "blue economy" sectors;

4. Ensure transparency and accountability in fisheries management; and

5. Build resilient communities to face climate change, and offer livelihoods prospects to youth

CFFA will examine the proposed review of the CFP using the Call to Action from small-scale fisheries as a compass. In particular, we will look at how the reviewed CFP addresses the fishers’ priorities, including how it will:

• Help ensure, through SFPAs in particular, that the African countries coastal zone is protected from industrial fishing of foreign origin;

• Promote a system of resource allocation that prioritizes those that fish sustainably for human consumption and contribute most to local economies, in particular sustainable small-scale fisheries (through the EU positions in RFMOs and other (sub) regional initiatives);

• Make sure that SFPAs protocols providing access to fish stocks shared between neighboring countries are based on scientific evidence of a surplus (UNCLOS) at the appropriate regional level;

• Develop tools to address the cases of vessels whose owner are European, reflagged to third countries, which threaten artisanal fishers by their unsustainable operations and destroy the ecosystems these fishers depend on for their livelihoods;

• Improve transparency and accountability in fisheries management, in line with the highest international standards of the Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI), such as by including an article on transparency in all SFPAs, banning non-disclosure clauses, and publishing the reports on the use of monies for sectoral support;

• Support, including through the SFPAs sectoral support (and in coordination with other EU funded initiatives), (1) participation of fishers, men and women, to fisheries management (including participative surveillance to help combat IUU fishing, research, etc.), (2) innovations to improve women in artisanal fisheries living and working conditions; and (3) regional cooperation for fisheries management; and

• Ensure the actions funded under SFPAs sectoral support, as part of the support to ocean economy, do not threaten artisanal fisheries (support to aquaculture, MPAs, etc.).

Will the Blue fear of artisanal fishers be fuelled by the EU’s approach to fisheries?

The EC also released its “EU Action Plan to protect and restore marine ecosystems for sustainable and resilient fisheries”. Many in the EU fisheries sector highlighted that the future of EU fisheries will be increasingly directed by environmental and food systems policies, in line with the Green Deal. Fisheries is now a lower priority for the EU, compared with other uses of ocean, like energy production.

The Low Impact Fishers of Europe (LIFE) underlined the way the future is being mapped out by the European Commission: “fishing grounds giving way to energy generation; fishery production being replaced by industrial production of seaweeds, aquaculture.” Such developments are creating “blue fear” for artisanal fishing communities in Africa, and it will also important, beyond the CFP review, to monitor whether and how such vision of the future of fisheries will be projected by the EU in its relations with African countries.

Banner photo: A fisher in Kafountine, Senegal, by Agence Mediaprod.

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