In light of the WTO negotiations on fishery subsidies, ETF joined Europêche, Cogeca, EAPO and AIPCE-CEP in presenting their case against the fuel de-taxation schemes in fisheries.
When it comes to fisheries, fuel de-taxation is essential for the survival of fishing communities and jobs. There are also no viable solutions for alternative propulsion technology since fishery vessels have limited space onboard.
Fuel detaxation is not an incentive to overfishing, as experience shows that the sustainability of fish stocks can be achieved in other ways.
Conscious of the need to adopt an international instrument to prohibit subsidies that contribute to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, often linked with labour and human rights’ abuses, and discipline financial aid that promotes overfishing and overcapacity, the European representatives of the sector, called the EU institution and Member States to exclude de-taxation fuel schemes from the scope of the WTO negotiations on fisheries subsidies.
The letter can be downloaded from here.