The Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) will be evaluated during the coming months. A public consultation has been launched by the European Commission. It constitutes the first part of a thorough evaluation that will look at how the CFP has achieved its objectives since 2013.
The consultation aims to gather evidence and different perspectives on the CFP from a range of stakeholders, including individuals, the fisheries and the maritime sectors, non-governmental and other organisations, and national administrations from Member States.
For years, EFTTA has stressed the need for recreational fisheries to be included the CFP on an equal footing with commercial fishing and aquaculture. History has shown that recreational angling is losing out when fish stocks are in trouble. Recreational angling is disproportionally hit by bans and restrictions in comparison to commercial fisheries with regard to e.g. sea bass, Baltic cod, Bluefin tuna and Baltic salmon.
Recreational angling is often treated as a nuisance. The EU's fisheries policy and management practically show little to no regard for recreational angling's positive contribution to human life quality, or for the contributions of anglers and their organizations to nature conservation and restoration projects. Not to mention the EUR 10.5 billion spent by the more than 9 million sea anglers in Europe on their fishing activities, supporting almost 100,000 full-time jobs.
EFTTA will submit an appropriate statement to reaffirm our demand for equal treatment of recreational angling well before the deadline September 6.
We will publish the statement on our website so that it can serve as inspiration for you, if you decide to take part in the consultation, which we will encourage you to do!
=>Click here for more information
=>Click here to send feedback on the common fisheries policy call for evidence
