Natural Resources

Help stop fish extinction
5 December 2011

Current fishing practices in Europe have pushed us to the edge.

If they continue unchecked:

Fish species - like cod, tuna, mackerel and herring - will become extinct
The marine ecosystem which supported them will collapse and never return

Now the rules governing European fishing - known as the Common Fisheries Policy - are being rewritten. And the UK Government is involved.

To follow EU law, the rewritten rules have to ensure that all commercial fish stocks are restored to a sound and healthy condition by 2020.

But instead, EU proposals only aim to keep fish stocks at their current, much depleted levels.

The UK Government is a key player in the negotiations. And they're hanging in the balance.

Please tell UK Fisheries Minister, Richard Benyon, to do all he can to make sure:

The new rules follow EU law
Fish stocks are restored to a sound and healthy condition by 2020

For more information on this issue please don't contact Friends of the Earth. Instead please email MARINET (our marine network) directly, or visit their website.

Email Richard Benyon

Dear Minister,

I understand that you are involved in negotiations around reforming the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). I'm sure you are aware that nearly 90% of all commercial fish stocks are over-fished in European seas. And of the very real threat of extinction to most common commercial fish species - like cod, tuna, mackerel and herring - and the ecosystem which supports them. Indeed, cod is now extinct in the North West Atlantic because of similar practices. The EU's Marine Strategy Framework Directive requires that by 2020 'populations of all commercially exploited fish and shellfish are within safe biological limits, exhibiting a population age and size distribution that is indicative of a healthy stock' (Ref. MSFD, Annex I). Yet, in discussions on CFP reform, the EU is calling for maximum sustainable yields (MSYs) to be based on current depleted levels of stocks, rather than historically referenced levels (i.e. prior to over-fishing). That risks contravening EU law by making it impossible for fish stocks to return to healthy levels. It would also hamper both the re-building of the fishing industry, and our marine food security. Please can you reassure me that you'll be pushing for the new CFP to follow EU law and for any MSYs to be based on historically referenced levels of fish stocks.

You can contact me by email (preferably - to save resources) or at the following address:

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Natural Resources

Help stop fish extinction5 December 2011

Email Richard Benyon

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Help stop fish extinction
5 December 2011