Digital writing — assignment B
Press release: European Union & Democracy #Fishing #Bycatch #EuropeanUnion #Leak
WWF the Netherlands leaks EU documents regarding an increase in fishing quotas
Increase in fishing quotas would drive overfishing in the European Union.
Amsterdam/Brussels — WWF the Netherlands has released several pages of previously closed document regarding secret meetings to increase the fishing quota in the European Union.
The pages leaked expose how the European Union and the European governing bodies are failing to commit to transparency. Several NGO’s have warned that increasing the fishing quotas in the European Union will lead to overfishing, which is a major threat to all marine life. Overfishing is intertwined with bycatch — meaning capturing unwanted species of sea life while fishing for a specific specie, which leads to the needless loss of a large amount of sea life.
The European Union negotiators have offered an increase in total allowable catches (TAC). The European Union’s TAC currently varies for each species. According to the leaked pages, there will be an increase in quotas for all the species.
WWF’s fisheries and agriculture campaigner Frank Vis said the following: “This undermines the democracy and the trust that the European citizens have in the European politicians. Regarding this increase, it will form a major threat to all sea life in the waters surrounding the countries that are member states of the European Union. The European Union is aiming to increase the quota to make more money, but is not looking at the consequences, such as, bycatch.”
The impact of the overfishing on marine life is well researched. On yearly basis around 100.000 different kinds of sea life get unnecessarily killed by fishing. This number is based on the TAC, if the TAC rises, the amount of unnecessarily killed sea life increases as well.
The leaked pages published on the website of WWF the Netherlands date from April 2019. If the quota gets accepted by all the countries involved, it could be seen as one of the biggest deals regarding fishing quotas of the last decade, resulting in a large increase of the European Union’s export value.
News: European Union & democracy #Overfishing #Bycatch #Leak
WWF the Netherlands leaks EU documents regarding an increase in fishing quotas
Increase in fishing quotas would drive overfishing in the European Union.
Amsterdam/Brussels — The WWF organisation based in the Netherlands has released several pages of previously closed document containing texts about secret meetings with the aim to increase the fishing quota in the European Union.
Each year the European Union releases a document in which the Union explains how many total allowable catches (TAC) will be permitted. The WWF organisation in the Netherlands got access to documents explaining how the TAC will increase heavily. This will result in a higher level of bycatch and will form a threat to all the marine life in the waters surrounding the countries that are member states of the European Union.
WWF’s fisheries and agriculture campaigner Frank Vis said the following: “This undermines the democracy and the trust that the European citizens have in the European politicians. Regarding this increase, it will form a major threat to all sea life in the waters surrounding the countries that are member states of the European Union. The European Union is aiming to increase the quota to make more money, but is not looking at the consequences, such as, bycatch.”
The involved countries — being all the countries in the European Union — are meeting next week and are hoping that the political agreement will get accepted.