Duties on Norwegian salmon to end

By Andrew Bounds in Brussels and Robert Anderson in Stockholm

Published: May 29 2008 03:01 | Last updated: May 29 2008 03:01

Brussels has risked turning more Irish voters against the Lisbon treaty by recommending lifting duties on cheap imports of salmon from Norway.

Local producers say the move could cost jobs among salmon farmers in the west of Ireland as well as in Scotland.

The Financial Times has learned that Ireland and the UK, the only two EU countries with big salmon producing interests, were alone in opposing the ending of anti-dumping duties at a closed-door meeting of officials this week. The decision now returns to Peter Mandelson, EU trade commissioner, who has said there is no reason to keep them.

In 2007 the World Trade Organisation found the EU had violated aspects of anti-dumping legislation in imposing a minimum price for salmon imports. The Commission said that while it lost the case on some points, the measure itself had not been questioned. It had now changed its mind.

“Seafood already seems to be a loss leader in supermarkets and this could depress prices still further. People are worried,” said the Irish Farmer’s Association.

Farmers have already demonstrated against the EU because they believe Mr Mandelson is offering too many concessions in WTO talks on agriculture. Ireland votes next month in a referendum on the Lisbon treaty on EU institutional reform, which Brussels views as vital to its future. The Yes camp maintains a slim lead.

“Mandelson was already not very popular in rural Ireland. That unpopularity has now spread to the coast,” said one independent salmon farmer, who did not wish to be named.

But Norwegian producers welcomed the vote and said that abolishing the minimum price would help stabilise the volatile market.

Trond Davidsen, trade director of the Norwegian Seafood Federation, said: “The positive effect is that it will make it possible for salmon farmers in Norway and processors in the EU to have long-term contracts. We have a more cyclical industry than we should have. The situation in the market will stabilise because of the lifting of minimum prices.”

He pointed out that 80 per cent of the Scottish salmon industry was Norwegian-owned and added that more than 13,000 workers were directly or indirectly employed in the EU from exports from Norway.

Helga Pedersen, fisheries minister, said: “Norway has never dumped salmon. This is a victory for free and fair trade.” Marine Harvest, the world’s largest farmed salmon producer, said: “We are very pleased.”

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Sweden calls for overhaul of EU fishing policy

By Andrew Bounds in Maribor

Published: May 28 2008 16:07 | Last updated: May 28 2008 16:07

Sweden is to propose a sweeping reform of Europe’s fishing policy as fishermen from its four biggest national fleets announced strike action over high oil prices on Tuesday.

With Brussels under intense pressure from France, Spain and Italy to allow them to bail out their ailing industry, Stockholm is to use its presidency of the European Union next year to search for long-term solutions to the crisis.

Eskil Erlandsson, Swedish agriculture minister, told the Financial Times that quotas should be set on a multi-annual basis.

“I hope to propose a reform. Fisherman cannot go from one year to the next not knowing what the quota will be,” he said. 2012, when the next Commission review is due, “is too long to wait”.

Currently national ministers haggle over quotas in between October and December since the European Commission waits to receive scientific advice about the level of stocks before proposing cuts or increases.

The system is disliked by fisherman, who say the cuts rob them of their livelihood, and green groups, which say it has led to uncontrolled overfishing.

Nevertheless, the Commission is likely to oppose any change in the short-term. “We need some stability,” said a senior official.

Joe Borg, the Maltese fishing commissioner, came under fresh pressure on Tuesday from the EU’s biggest fishing countries to permit aid to cope with the high cost of diesel.

Representatives from France, Spain, Italy and Portugal, home to half the EU’s 415,000 fishers, on Tuesday announced a co-ordinated strike.The French fleet has already disrupted trade across the English Channel by blocking ports and oil refineries.

France has proposed a €350m aid package, which Mr Borg could rule illegal, and put a levy on fish sold in supermarkets to help pay for it. Michel Barnier, agriculture and fishing minister, said on Tuesday that he would work with Mr Borg on analysing the impact on industry.

“If we want a high quality European fishing fleet…rather than relying on imports a European response is necessary,” he said.

Italy’s new minister Luca Zaia said he wanted €100m of extra European funding. He and others are also pushing for a higher cap on state aid, set at €30,000 every three years for each business. It was already increased tenfold in 2006.

However countries such as the UK and Netherlands, oppose any change. Jaime Silva, Portugal’s minister of fisheries, said: “High oil prices are here to stay, not just for a few months. This reality cannot be avoided by new measures that do not solve the problem. People have to adapt and improve their competitiveness.”

The Commission official concurred. “If they get aid now they will be back again for more next year.”

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Brussels aims to cut fish trawls by 25%

By Andrew Bounds in Brussels

Published: May 30 2008 14:53 | Last updated: May 31 2008 02:38

The European Commission set itself on a collision course with fishermen protesting over rocketing fuel prices on Friday by proposing to cut catches by up to a quarter next year and rejecting extra subsidies to offset rising costs.

Brussels said that current efforts to reduce fishing to preserve stocks were failing and more drastic measures were needed. Catches had fallen for the past five years while fish stocks remained in danger of collapse, officials said.

Unveiling its strategy for 2009, the Brussels executive, which runs the European Union’s fishing policy, proposed allowing annual cuts of up to 25 per cent rather than 15 per cent.

“The situation of Europe’s fish stocks continues to be alarming,” said Joe Borg, fishing commissioner, as he called for the industry to restructure.

Fishermen in Spain, Italy, France, Belgium and Portugal on Friday went on strike and demonstrated against fuel prices that have risen 240 per cent since 2004. Riot police this week had to clear French fishermen from blockading oil refineries. Spanish fishermen went on a different tack, handing out 20 tonnes of fish.

The Spanish Fishing Confederation said that 40,000 jobs had been lost in the industry in the past few years. Nevertheless, Spain has the largest fleet among the EU’s 450,000 fishermen.

France wants Commission approval to hand out €350m ($544m, £275m) in aid, while Italy and Spain will also press it to help fund bail-outs next month.

Mr Borg rejected the idea but will be under intense pressure. “Fuel subsidies, besides being illegal, would do absolutely nothing to deal with the underlying problems. They would serve only to perpetuate the problems of the sector and make the crash even greater when it comes,” he said on Thursday. “Act now to restructure. False solutions are not the way forward.”

He called for a “smaller, more fuel-efficient fleet that is better matched to fishing possibilities”.

National governments have proved reluctant to agree. The Commission said they had set quotas 50 per cent above sustainable levels on average for the past five years.

A majority must now approve the proposal, and haggle over stock-by-stock quotas to be outlined by the Commission in September.

Mr Borg said a system restricting fishermen’s ability to catch by limiting days at sea had proved too easy to circumvent. He wants to switch to one based on kilowatt hours, already used in Scotland. That would give bigger boats less fishing time. Increase in boat size has been a big factor in increasing the catch above sustainable limits, scientists say.

Bertie Armstrong, of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation, said British fishermen would demonstrate on Tuesday.

“The policy has been all about survival of fish stocks. It now needs to be about the survival of the industry. An uncontrolled collapse helps nobody,” he said.

The EU provided 75 per cent of its fish consumption in the 1970s but can now only catch enough for 40 per cent.