Referring to the proposed new legislation by the European Commission that will make it mandatory for all fishing vessels in the EU that incidentally catch seabirds to put in place measures to stop them from doing so, BirdLife Malta joined BirdLife International in welcoming this good news for seabirds.
BirdLife Malta said that it has studied seabirds for over 30 years and in the past 10 years it lead projects funded by the EU Life+ programme to study seabirds in more depth.
The latest project which will close in June of 2016 aims to help the government reach its objectives and designates the first Marine Special Protected Areas (SPAs) for our country, BLM said.
BirdLife Malta said that it has worked closely with the Ministry for Sustainable Development, Environment and Climate Change (MSDEC ) to collect enough scientific data to identify which areas of our seas within the 25 nautical mile are important for three particular seabirds, the Mediterranean Storm Petrel (Hydrobates pelagicus), the Yelkouan Shearwater (Puffinus yelkouan) and the Scopoli's Shearwater (Calonectris diomedea diomedea).
Following the designation of SPAs, BLM said that in Malta will implement management plans for these areas bringing a balance between human activity and the effects on these birds.
BLM pointed out that in "Malta there is very little knowledge of the extent of by catch of seabirds and this proposed legislation will allow us to understand whether this is a problem and how to mitigate it."
BirdLife Malta concluded by saying that it will remain committed to safeguard the wellbeing of our seabirds while working hand in hand with all stakeholders to achieve this.
BirdLife International, in its statement that after years of dialogue, the European Commission has proposed that all relevant fishing vessels in the EU implement concrete measures to stop the accidental catching of seabirds in their fishing gear.
"This day marks a historic day for European seabirds. BirdLife Europe welcomes the new legislation proposed by the European Commission that will make it mandatory for all fishing vessels in the EU that incidentally catch seabirds to put in place measures to stop them from doing so."
It is estimated that at least 200,000 seabirds are accidentally caught annually in EU waters. This includes species on the verge of extinction such as the Balearic Shearwater. However, until today the EU had not enacted any legally binding legislation for fishers to solve this problem. This proposed legislation is a game changer.
In 2012, the European Commission published the Seabird Plan of Action in an effort to codify the actions needed from different national, regional and EU institutions to solve the issue of seabird bycatch across the EU. The new legislation proposed today was one of the actions at the EU level foreseen in the plan.
Ariel Brunner, Senior Head of Policy at BirdLife Europe, stated, "the avoidable massacre of majestic seabirds as bycatch is a long-running scandal. The problem has been virtually solved in many fisheries around the world. Today's proposal can make the use of mitigation measures the norm in EU waters as well."
Brunner continued, "we particularly welcome measures being proposed for longline fisheries. BirdLife has already demonstrated globally [6] that these solutions-including having scaring devices on boats, setting fishing lines at night, and adding weights to hooks to have them drop faster- help minimise seabird bycatch. We also believe these technical measures will encourage Member States to propose fisheries management measures for Natura 2000 sites."
"Together with the recently proposed revision of the legislation that sets the framework for what data needs to be collected from fishers, the momentum to achieve concrete results in reducing seabird bycatch across the EU is building."
BirdLife International concluded by saying that, "the efforts do not end here. The legislation will still need to be negotiated between the Council (i.e. Member States) and the European Parliament this year before it becomes enforceable law. We hope both institutions remember what is needed to implement the ambitions of the Common Fisheries Policy and ensure this new legislation supports a good management of EU fisheries."
Photo of the Scopoli's Shearwaters by: Aron Tanti and photo of Mediterranean Storm Petrel by: Hadoram Shirihai