07 Jun
2006 - Brussels, Belgium Economic growth and
competitiveness goals in the EU will fail if maritime
development continues to take place at the expense
of the seas and its wildlife, warns WWF.
Today the European Commission
presented the Green Paper on a future Maritime
Policy which aims to integrate policies concerning
all marine-related activities (shipping, industry,
trade, tourism, energy, fisheries and marine research)
in order to boost competitiveness and growth.
WWF is concerned that integrating these policies
based only on economic growth will jeopardise
the protection or the marine environment and undermine
the goal of sustainable development.
The EU needs to learn form
the fisheries experience: when the environment
is not a priority, long term sustainable economic
growth is not possible. Billion of euros have
been spent on fisheries sector in the name of
economic growth but they just lead to less competitiveness
and the annihilation of the marine environment,
says Carol Phua, Fisheries Policy Officer at WWF
European Policy Office.
If the Maritime Policy takes
the same approach, we will face not just overfishing
but a complete overexploitation of the seas.
At present, the Maritime strategy
is under the responsibility of the Directorate
General for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs, while
the Marine strategy (which is its very weak environmental
counterpart) is under the Directorate General
for Environment. According to WWF, this separation
will just lead to conflicts and undermine both
the economic and the environmental goals. It is
therefore paramount to merge the two policies
within a new single Directorate General for Marine
Affairs.
