(en) France, Alternative Libertair #222 - Overfishing cooperatives, not quotas

In Le Monde on October 7, 2012, Herv? Kempf wrote "copy ban on industrial fishing in 2009 
[in Venezuela] revived artisanal fisheries and fish stocks restored." The "Bolivarian 
revolution" has on this subject, intelligently used oil subsidies completing this measure 
by funds allotted for artisanal fishermen to mount cooperatives. ---- Large tracks known 
to replenish fish stocks and biodiversity conservation have already demonstrated their 
effectiveness. In the previous issue of Alternative libertarian we describe the " marine 
protected areas "that would achieve 10% coverage of the oceans by the Rio Conference in
1992. Twenty years later, despite all the studies proving the effectiveness of restocking
and improving economic conditions of artisanal fisheries, these areas still leveled at 
0.5%. Yet the establishment of marine reserves 30% of the ocean surface would cost only 12 
to 14 billion [ 1 ].

Less than 15 to 30 billion in grants annually to industrial fisheries. Political 
conditions do not seem ripe for the establishment of rational solutions. Exclusive 
Economic Zones (EEZs) are as such copies. In principle in the EEZ, countries have legal 
means to control fishing ... but it is a privilege of the rich. Mauritania and Senegal, 
European and Asian fleets plunder the resources of the EEZ. The lack of effective 
international regulation and neo-colonial domination led to the ruin of traditional fishing.

Generalized crisis of the sector
Faced with the widespread crisis of fisheries, the subsidy policy encourages western 
sectors most destructive to fish stocks. In this context, the policies of quotas on 
endangered species and obviously affect primarily the artisanal fishing sector employs the 
majority of workers. The prohibition of industrial fishing boats and in particular 
campaigning for several months, with advanced technology, is a prerequisite both for 
biodiversity conservation and for the development of artisanal fisheries. Promoting 
recovery of fish stocks, it would allow reconciliation between conservationists and 
occupation by the throat which is not projected beyond the short term. The Government 
PS-EELV will he steps? Does it prohibit industrial fishing, the risk of a confrontation
with the capitalist sector? The answer is unfortunately known!

Jacques Dubart (AL Agen)

[ 1 ] Report of the OECD Reviews of Fisheries in OECD Countries: Policies and Summary 
Statistics, p. 55-56, Paris, 2003.