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A Member of the European Parliament questions the European Commission on the relation between Recreational Fisheries and the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP)
MEP Richard Corbett (UK, Labour) has raised a question to the European Commission of fundamental interest for the European anglers.
Indeed, the EU often only legislates on recreational fishing from a negative approach when some fish stocks are threatened. However, all of the positive aspects of recreational fishing carry too little weight within the existing rules of the EU's fisheries management. This situation is unfortunate, when taking into account that recreational fishing delivers the highest economy and jobs output per fish caught, that it improves people's life quality and that it is arguably the only fisheries sector that has a sustainable development potential in the short-medium term.
EAA and EFTTA have always argued that the CFP ought to give explicit and positive mention to recreational fishing within the scope of the CFP. Although the European Parliament supported this claim during the last CFP reform negotiations, the EU text still "does not specifically make mention of recreational fisheries", as the European Commission answered to Mr. Corbett.
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