April 13, 2012 – Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Maria Damanaki, has contibuted to an event organised by Oceana that discusses fisheries management as an ecosystem-based approach.
The event 'The implementation of the ecosystem-based approach – A revolution for fisheries management and A challenge for the Common Fisheries Policy', hosted by Guido Milana, Member of the European Parliament, was organised by Oceana.
The objective of the seminar is to exchange views on the changes in fisheries management that are necessary for truly implementing the ecosystem-based approach.
Ms Damanaki welcomed the initiative and wished to contribute to the discussion on this topical issue with some thoughts:
"The Commission's main policy objectives are to provide for the conservation on fish stocks with a view to ensuring their long-term sustainability and for the fishing sector dependent on these stocks. Within this objective it is also necessary to keep fisheries impacts within sustainable bounds, by including all knowledge we have about the interactions between fisheries and marine ecosystems. Decisions taken in fisheries should also be consistent with and supportive of actions taken under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) and the Habitats Directive…
"To do this, fisheries management should firstly reduce the overall level of fishing pressure to sustainable levels, and in particular to allow fish stocks to rebuild to maximum sustainable yield levels as according to the "Johannesburg" commitment. This will be done by means of continued implementation of long term plans and a sustained effort to eliminate discards. This will reduce mortality of fish,