POLAND
Innovation and knowledge will play a greater role in the Polish aquaculture sector
Environmental benefits of fish farming need to be promoted The Department of Fisheries in the Polish Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is led by Tomasz Nawrocki, who spoke with Eurofish Magazine at length about some of the issues facing the Polish fishery and aquaculture sector.
T
he Common Fisheries Policy is in the final stages of reform. What aspects of the reform (discard ban, regionalisation, fishing at MSY, and the general emphasis on sustainability) do you foresee as having the greatest impact on Polish fisheries, and how will this manifest itself? Baltic Sea and other fishing companies must follow the rules while becoming more flexible and able to adjust to any change in the natural environment and on the markets. The main objective of the reform is to give the fishery and aquaculture sector an appropriately balanced economic, social, and environmental framework. The new elements of key importance to us are balanced fishing, discard control, ensuring a future for fisheries and aquaculture, increasing job opportunities, meeting consumer needs and expectations, more efficient management through regionalisation, and a more rational financing of the sector. Many aspects of the Common Fisheries Policy reform have already been implemented by Poland. For example, when the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) set the annual fishing quotas and TACs, it considered not only 20
Eurofish Magazine 6 / 2013
06_Poland_PO.indd 1
Director Tomasz Nawrocki, Department of Fisheries, Polish Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
scientific advice but also the necessity to achieve catches consistent with MSY starting in 2015. Sometimes this requires the consent of the member states,
because it may call for a reduction in fishing quotas higher than those proposed by the EC. Of course, this is done after considering the economic condition
of fishermen and a careful analysis of ICES scientific advice. Implementing the discard ban in cod, pelagic, and salmon www.eurofishmagazine.com
05/12/13 1:01 PM