December Council: Cuts, Questions and Missed Opportunities

Despite much hype about “front loading” and “good governance”, the December Council once again revealed itself as a deeply flawed process. In the final outcome, in the early hours of Wednesday morning, member states were bullied, bribed and cajoled into agreeing further deep cuts in days at sea, along with a number of changes to TACs. As ever, much energy was spent in moderating the level of cuts against the background of very severe initial Commission proposals. As well as engineering substantial cuts in days for 2008, the Commission has also positioned itself for the introduction, in 2009, of its long held ambition to replace the current days at sea rules with effort ceiling caps. Scotland is eager to rush through this particular open door early next year with a pilot scheme.

The UK is perennially in a difficult position at the Council because of its many priorities, reflecting its varied fisheries. Member states with fewer priorities can focus their firepower of just a few issues and generally enjoy greater success as a result. In recent years the UK, with the cooperation of the national federations, has tried to guard against this inbuilt bias by proposing constructive alternatives to cuts in days and TACs. This strategy was only partially successful this year but failed to achieve its full potential largely because Commission officials didn’t grasp what was being proposed or because of a built-in resistance to giving the benefit of the doubt to either the member states or the fishing industry.

In all fairness, it has to be said that UK Fisheries Minister, Jonathan Shaw and his team of officials worked very hard to limit the cuts and advance viable alternatives. Nevertheless this Council was a missed opportunity in terms of a move away from the old discredited formulas.

The NFFO Delegation in Brussels:

Fred Normandale                    Chairman
Barrie Deas                            Chief Executive
Stewart Harper                       Pelagics
Alan McCulla                           Irish Sea
Stan Hannah                           Irish Sea
Paul Trebilcock                       Southwest
Ned Clark                                North East