The last European council of ministers under the Spanish six-month Presidency, on Tuesday (29 June) in Luxembourg, will allow countries to exchange ideas on what the next Community Fisheries Policy (CFP) should be.

 

The final negotiations will occur in 2011.

 

The Agriculture and Fisheries Council, chaired by the Spanish minister of industry, Elena Espinosa, will take the European Commission's Green Paper on fisheries reform into account in its deliberations. This document officially opened discussions to change this policy and consultations with stakeholders.

 

The Presidency believes that reform should be used to upgrade the fisheries policy and bring it up to date with reality.

 

Among other things, Spain believes that a differentiation should be studied in the treatment of industrial and artisanal fishing fleets as well as the modification of "relative stability," a historical form of fishing distribution that has sometimes led to discrimination of their boats in some fishing grounds.

 

Another fact to consider is the high rate of importation of fishery products in the EU, which, being the biggest world market in this sector, buys 60% of the fish and seafood it consumes.

 

According to the European Commission's document, a restructuring of the fleet and a deceleration of overfishing should be promoted. Among the most important issues include the idea of transferring fishing rights, the modification of criteria for catch sharing, the future of aid and the restructuring of the fleet.

 

The fisheries sector is crucial to the provision of food to European citizens and plays an important role in the European economy, but is undergoing a deep crisis.

 

The European species have been subjected to decades of overfishing and fishing fleets are still too large. The volatility of oil prices and the financial crisis have also contributed to the difficulties in the sector.

 

Climate change is also having an impact on the seas of Europe and is changing the abundance and distribution of fish populations.