11 December 2023

BLOOM takes legal action to obtain transparency on fishing quotas

11 December 2023

As negotiations between Member States on fishing quotas for 2024 drew to a close on Monday 11 December, BLOOM brought an appeal before the Paris Administrative Court to obtain the management plans drawn up by producer organizations (1). These documents detail the allocation rules between fishers within producer organizations and, ultimately, make it possible to understand who actually recovers fishing opportunities. Although approved by the French Ministry, this information, which is essential to the analysis of fisheries management, is still inaccessible.

AN OPAQUE DISTRIBUTION OF QUOTAS

Quotas are allocated on several levels. After being negotiated within the European Union, quotas are allocated at national level. In France, a decree sets the quota allocated by species and zone for each producer organization. However, once the quota is allocated to a producer organization, the information becomes opaque, and it’s impossible to know which vessel gets which share of the quota. At a time when the transition of the sector is imperative, when artisanal fishing is dying out while industrial vessels legally plunder coastal zones and Marine Protected Areas, it is essential to understand how fishing opportunities are allocated in order to establish more equitable and sustainable management.

On 26 May 2023, BLOOM requested these documents in order to gain access to the allocation rules governed by European Union law (2). But the authorities refused, claiming that the documents were draft documents. This argument was unfounded, given that in environmental matters, all information must be communicated and that, according to the French Rural and Maritime Fishing Code, these management plans are documents validated by the Minister and must be sent to each member of the producer organization. This refusal by the French administration is yet another illustration of the opacity that prevails in the fishing industry.

BLOOM therefore referred the matter to the CADA (Commission d’accès aux documents administratifs, Commission for access to administrative documents) on 28 August 2023. The latter issued a positive opinion on the communicability of this information. Now, by taking legal action, BLOOM wishes to force the administration to communicate this information to us.

AN OPACITY THAT BENEFITS THE MOST DESTRUCTIVE PLAYERS

This opacity benefits the industrialists, allowing them to take the lion’s share. Indeed, FROM Nord, the producers’ organization based in Boulogne, has the largest share of pelagic species, with 98.6% of the herring quota and 100% of the blue whiting quota. Its members include nine industrial vessels owned by the Dutch-owned companies France Pélagique, Compagnie des Pêches de Saint-Malo and Euronor. These include the Scombrus and Prins Bernhard, two factory ships that have been fishing intensively in the English Channel since mid-November, in Marine Protected Areas close to the coast. “These vessels can only exist because the FROM Nord allocates them fishing quotas. With a catch capacity of 200,000 kilos per day, or the equivalent of 1,000 small-scale fishing vessels, the model needs to be completely rethought, starting with the dismantling of these industrial vessels in favor of local coastal fishing”, explains Laetitia Bisiaux, project manager at BLOOM.

This request for information accompanies our broader challenge to the French quota allocation system. On 2 October 2023, BLOOM and artisanal fishers took their case to the administrative court to demand a transparent and equitable distribution of quotas, through the annulment of the decree allocating fishing quotas on a national scale.

At a time when the fishing industry urgently needs to make the transition to low-impact methods to halt the collapse of marine biodiversity and artisanal fishing, and in the face of resistance from the French government, we hope that the courts will force full transparency on fishing quotas and their fair distribution.

NOTES

(1) On May 26, 2023, BLOOM asked the French Prime Minister to provide the following information:

  • Management plans drawn up by each of the producer organizations and vessel groups that have been allocated quotas under the Order of 31 March 2023 on the allocation of certain fishing quotas granted to France for the year 2023;
  • Management plans drawn up by each of the producer organizations and vessel groups that have received a quota allocation under the Order of 8 February 2023 establishing the terms and conditions for allocating the bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) quota granted to France for the zone “Atlantic Ocean east of longitude 45° W and Mediterranean” for the year 2023;
  • Management plans drawn up by each of the producer organizations and vessel groups that have been allocated quotas under the Order of 8 February 2023 establishing the terms and conditions for allocating the Mediterranean swordfish (Xiphias gladius) quota granted to France for the “Mer Méditerranée” zone for the year 2023.

 

(2) Article 17 “Criteria for the allocation of fishing opportunities by Member States” of Regulation (EU) n°1380/2013 of 11 December 2013.

Share :