The harmonization of local fishing laws in order to bring them in line with the European fisheries policy

Abstract

The Common Fisheries Policy is the system with which the European Union purports to control the fisheries industry. The policy is also meant to deal with the regulation and the management of the industry, all the way from the catching right down to the processing and canning stages. Its major objective is that of managing Community fish stocks. The European Union tries to do this by first of all avoiding overfishing and wrong fishing, which will, if unchecked, inevitably lead to the exhaustion of fish stocks. This should be able to guarantee sustainable fishing for a longer time. The Common Fisheries Policy has dictated and steered a common conscious effort which however has not been followed by all and sundry. Some Member States do not want to realise that acting egoistically at this stage might guarantee them a temporarily thriving fishing industry, but is at the same time adding on to the danger of depleting for ever that which the seas have offered us till now. The main problem the European Union has to face is that this peril can only be fought collectively in order to succeed at all. It is indeed true that the Common Fisheries Policy is not that perfect in itself, and that many flaws, especially in its implementation stage, have been detected and are very blatant. However, had it been followed ad litteram by each Member State, which is something that will never happen, today the fish stocks in the North Atlantic, in the Baltic, in theMediterranean and in the North Sea would at least be facing a marginally better looking future. Malta is heading towards EU accession and the fisheries sector is on of the nine negotiating chapters which will be imminently opened. Therefore, the fisheries sector will have to adjourn itself too, preferably rapidly to what is dictated by the EU directives and regulations on the matter. First of all, the local fishing industry has to adjourn itself in terms of positive law, in order that the whole machine be compulsorily, if necessary, set in motion. Legislation on the subject is, until this day, scant, although some regulations will for the moment be kept in vigore. However the almost fifty-year old Fish Industry Act is grossly inadequate, and has been so for a fair number of years. Even more so today. An act with such lacunae had to be replaced. In fact the Fisheries Conservation and Management Act should be given legal power in the near future, in order to substitute the decrepit Act and to steer the industry towards this new European challenge. Clear and wide-ranging, the new Act should pave the way for a more coherent management system for our fisheries industry. It does so without discarding our artisanal fishing roots but provides for a myriad of possibilities, since it enables the Minister to draft and enforce regulations on practically anything related to the fishing industry. It is also clearly predisposed in order to satisfy and comply with the Common Fisheries Policy. It is to be noted in this regard that in the near future regulations under the parentage of this new Act will be enacted for fishing fleets, fishing gear, fish markets, fisheries standards and aquaculture regulations. The question as to how implementable some of the EU regulations are is then another matter. However it may be stated that we should be allowed some leeway in that we are small andsome of the measures cannot be undertaken ·very easily, be it because of financial impediments or due to logistical or spatial ones. The Common Fisheries Policy is obviously more geared towards the fishing grounds of northern Europe, and not enough as regards the Mediterranean, which is a sea which will never be shared completely and only by EU Member States. The EU is now trying to make good for this, with the aid of the General Fisheries Council for the Mediterranean (GFCM). Everyone should act fast because the Mediterranean is both polluted and overfished and the situation seems to be horribly precipitating. The contribution of our country, although always minimal in effect, will at least possibly set sort of a good example. The Common Fisheries Policy also tries to protect the fishermen and those who earn their money down the line of the fishing industry. One such example of this sort of help is the scheme for the withdrawal of extra fish and the giving of compensation in certain cases. The final question will always be whether all this will effectively be enough in order to guarantee a healthy future for the depleted fish stocks and for those persons involved in the fishing industry.