5 March 2009
A Parliamentary Committee, chaired by former Fisheries Minister Michael Jack MP, recently received both written and oral evidence from the NFFO.
The EFRA (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) Committee is investigating Britain’s ability to feed itself in the future against the background of growing word population and potential political and environmental interruptions to supply.
Apart from being interested in the NFFO’s views on the CFP, as a principal factor in the fish available to the British consumer, the Committee had a number of specific questions:
- What were the NFFO’s views on the status of fish stocks generally?
- Did we concur with the Food and Agriculture Organisation view that aquaculture should be dramatically increased to fill the looming gap between demand and future supply?
- Did Defra give sufficient priority to the marine environment?
- Did Defra monitor fish stocks adequately?
In our evidence the NFFO:
- Criticised broad brush reports from various quasi-academic and environmental groups that gave the impression that all fish stocks were in a state of collapse
- Emphasised that the stocks situation in Community waters could best be described as mixed, with many stocks stable, some rapidly rebuilding but others yet to respond to management measures
- Argued that the full potential of the stocks in Community waters had not been realised under the CFP and that the top-down prescriptive approach that had characterised the CFP to date was largely responsible for this under-performance
- Suggested that there had already been some progress towards a more participative, tailored CFP had been made and that more progress in this direction was a priority
- Indicated that aquaculture certainly had an important role to play in the future food supply but that outside mussel cultivation, a major expansion of sea based aquaculture faced important constraints because of: – Conflict with inshore fishing – Pollution around the cages – Escapees damaging the genetic pool of wild stocks – Dependence on the capture of 4kgs of wild fish to grow 1kg of farmed fish.
- Discussed the concept of maximum sustainable yield, its strengths and limitations and the ability of the current science regime to provide accurate information on stocks
- Emphasised that moving in the right direction on fish stocks was more useful than arcane and often pointless discussions about destination and targets
- Indicated that the Marine Bill currently passing through Parliament demonstrated a serious commitment to the marine environment but that Defra Fisheries Division was under-resourced given its multiple roles and demands of coordinating a UK position in international negotiations
The Chairman indicated that the Committee might wish to revisit the Common Fisheries Policy as part of its future work programme.
Our evidence was followed by a Committee session with the National Farmers’ Union.