Reactie staatssecretaris EL&I vragen op het rapport Nearly 6 billion subsidies fuel Spain-s ravenous fleet
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Nummer: 2011D49127, datum: 2011-10-10, bijgewerkt: 2024-02-19 10:56, versie: 1
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Bijlage bij: Reactie staatssecretaris EL&I vragen op het rapport Nearly 6 billion subsidies fuel Spain-s ravenous fleet (2011D49125)
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The Center for Public Integrity HYPERLINK "http://www.iwatchnews.org/" \o "Home" iWatch News Investigation. Impact. Integrity. Supported by: Main menu HYPERLINK "http://www.iwatchnews.org/" \o "" Home HYPERLINK "http://www.iwatchnews.org/about" About the Center HYPERLINK "http://www.iwatchnews.org/icij/about" ICIJ: Global Investigations HYPERLINK "http://ujima-project.org/" \o "" Ujima: Global Data HYPERLINK "http://www.iwatchnews.org/finance" Finance HYPERLINK "http://www.iwatchnews.org/politics" Politics HYPERLINK "http://www.iwatchnews.org/world" World HYPERLINK "http://www.iwatchnews.org/factwatch" FactWatch HYPERLINK "http://www.iwatchnews.org/health" Health HYPERLINK "http://www.iwatchnews.org/environment" Environment HYPERLINK "http://www.iwatchnews.org/accountability" Accountability HYPERLINK "http://www.iwatchnews.org/national-security" National Security HYPERLINK "http://www.iwatchnews.org/education" Education HYPERLINK "http://www.iwatchnews.org/local" Local HYPERLINK "http://www.iwatchnews.org/justice" Justice HYPERLINK "http://www.iwatchnews.org/iwatch-news" iWatch in the News HYPERLINK "http://www.iwatchnews.org/world" World : HYPERLINK "http://www.iwatchnews.org/world/looting-seas" Looting the Seas : HYPERLINK "http://www.iwatchnews.org/world/looting-seas/looting-seas-ii" Looting the Seas II Nearly €6 billion in subsidies fuel Spain’s ravenous fleet Ajani Winston/iWatch News As stocks crash, 1 in 3 fish paid for with public money By HYPERLINK "http://www.iwatchnews.org/authors/kate-willson" Kate Willson , HYPERLINK "http://www.iwatchnews.org/authors/mar-cabra" Mar Cabra and HYPERLINK "http://www.iwatchnews.org/authors/marcos-garcia-rey" Marcos Garcia Rey 12:01 am, October 2, 2011 Updated: 11:51 am, October 6, 2011 HYPERLINK "http://www.iwatchnews.org/print/6733" \t "_new" Print HYPERLINK "http://www.iwatchnews.org/printmail/node/6733" \t "_new" E-mail HYPERLINK "http://twitter.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwatchnews.org%2F2011%2F1 0%2F02%2F6733%2Fnearly-6-billion-subsidies-fuel-spain-s-ravenous-fleet&r elated=&count=vertical&via=iWatch&text=Nearly%20%C3%A2%C2%82%C2%AC6%20bi llion%20in%20subsidies%20fuel%20Spain%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%99s%20ravenous%20fl eet&" Tweet HYPERLINK "http://www.iwatchnews.org/2011/09/27/6741/key-findings" Key findings The Spanish fishing industry has received more than €5.8 billion (more than $8 billion) in subsidies from the EU and Spain since 2000 – far more than the industry of any other EU country. Subsidies account for a third of the sector’s value. Simply put, nearly one-in-three fish caught on a hook or raised in a farm is paid for with public money. The subsidized Spanish fleet has cultivated an extensive record of flouting the rules while officials overlook fraud and continue to dole out aid to vessels that break the law. More than 80 percent of subsidized fishing companies that were fined in Spain for fishing infractions – and then lost subsequent court appeals – continued to receive subsidies. HYPERLINK "http://www.iwatchnews.org/2011/09/27/6745/spain-doles-out-millions-aid- despite-fishing-companys-record" One Spanish shipowner received more than €8.2 million in subsidies even while his company or its affiliates faced more than 40 accusations of illegal fishing and US$5 million in fines. HYPERLINK "http://www.iwatchnews.org/2011/09/29/6797/interactive-how-subsidies-bre ak-down" Interactive: How the subsidies break down Graphic by HYPERLINK "http://www.iwatchnews.org/authors/ajani-winston" Ajani Winston /iWatch News HYPERLINK "http://www.iwatchnews.org/world/looting-seas/looting-seas-ii" Looting the Seas II Spain is the most powerful fishing nation in a region where economies and fish stocks are in shambles. A team of reporters from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists HYPERLINK "http://www.iwatchnews.org/2011/09/29/6806/about-looting-seas" examined the Spanish fishing industry’s political influence, global reach and criminal record. The stories reveal an industry more subsidized by taxpayers than any other in the European Union, even as it has racked up an extensive history of flouting rules and breaking laws. Stories in this series HYPERLINK "http://dev.publicintegrity.org/2011/10/02/6733/nearly-6-billion-subsidi es-fuel-spain-s-ravenous-fleet" Nearly €6 billion in subsidies fuel Spain’s ravenous fleet HYPERLINK "http://dev.publicintegrity.org/2011/10/02/6745/spain-doles-out-millions -aid-despite-fishing-companys-record" Spain doles out millions in aid despite fishing company's record HYPERLINK "http://dev.publicintegrity.org/2011/10/04/6769/spain-s-hake-appetite-th reatens-namibia-s-most-valuable-fish" Spain’s hake appetite threatens Namibia’s most valuable fish HYPERLINK "http://dev.publicintegrity.org/2011/10/06/6792/hake-hoax-spanish-market s" Hake hoax in Spanish markets HYPERLINK "http://dev.publicintegrity.org/2011/10/06/6812/video-hake-hoax" Video: The hake hoax HYPERLINK "http://dev.publicintegrity.org/2011/10/06/6862/hake-dna-testing-how-we- did-it" Hake DNA testing: How we did it More fish are moved across the docks of the Galician port of Vigo, heading for consumers' plates, than in any other port in the world. Puertos del Estado Industry lobbyist Javier Garat speaks with the EU’s top fisheries official Maria Damanaki following a conference in Brussels. Mar Cabra/ICIJ HYPERLINK "http://www.iwatchnews.org/2011/09/27/6740/guess-whats-left-european-fis h" Guess what's left of European fish? Only three of 27 European fish species regularly consumed by humans are fished sustainably, according to an analysis by Fish for the Future, a European Union campaign group supported by five major EU political parties. Fish for the Future/Scandinavian Fishing Year Book HYPERLINK "http://www.iwatchnews.org/2011/10/04/6871/top-fisheries-official-says-e u-investigating-illegalities-spanish-companies" Top fisheries official says EU is investigating illegalities by Spanish companies By HYPERLINK "http://www.iwatchnews.org/authors/kate-willson" Kate Willson October 4, 2011 The European Union’s top fisheries official, Commissioner Maria Damanaki, said her office is investigating Spanish shipowners’ involvement in illegal fishing and possible misappropriations of EU funding. Decades of overfishing have left Europe’s fish stocks in peril and its fishermen in poverty. It’s an impasse paid for by EU taxpayers. Yet a proposed revision of the EU’s fishing law, hailed as sweeping reform, is rapidly losing momentum. A look at the industry’s biggest player — Spain — shows what officials are up against. Billions of euros in subsidies built its bloated fleet and propped up a money-losing industry. All the while companies systematically flout the rules while officials overlook fraud and continue to fund offenders, an investigation by the HYPERLINK "http://www.publicintegrity.org/investigations/icij/" International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has found. “Spain has earned its bad reputation,” said Ernesto Penas Lado, director of policy and enforcement at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries. “The problem is others don’t have the reputation and deserve it just as much.” Spain may not be alone. But as the EU’s most powerful fishing fleet, it is the starkest example of a failed EU policy, critics say. The Spanish fishing industry has received more than €5.8 billion (more than $8 billion) in subsidies since 2000 for everything from building new vessels and breaking down old ships to payments for retiring fishermen and training for the next generation, an unprecedented analysis by ICIJ shows. Subsidies account for almost a third of the value of the industry. Simply put, nearly one in three fish caught on a Spanish hook or raised in a Spanish farm is paid for with public money. ICIJ’s HYPERLINK "http://www.iwatchnews.org/2011/09/27/6742/methodology-looting-seas" analysis is the first in-depth look at just how much public aid Spain has received for fishing — primarily from EU taxpayers, but also from Madrid and regional governments. The country has cornered a third of all the EU’s fishing aid since 2000, far more than any other member state. The central government doles out even more for things such as low interest loans and funding for its largest industry associations, which in turn lobby the EU for more industry subsidies, records show. Since 2000, the sector has avoided paying €2 billion ($2.7 billion) in taxes on fuel to the Spanish Treasury. Public monies also fund a surprising range of services. More than €82 million ($114 million) has been spent to promote the fishing sector through advertising and at trade shows. After fishing vessels were hijacked by pirates in the Indian Ocean, Spain in 2009 changed its law to allow vessels to hire private security forces onboard, and then it helped foot the bill to the tune of €2.8 million. The root of the problem, regulators say, is that out-of-control subsidies encourage countries to build up already oversized fleets that are rapidly depleting the seas. “Fish are not an unlimited resource,” said fisheries economist Andrew Dyck of the University of British Columbia. “When the public purse is the only thing propping this industry up, we are paying for resource degradation.” The European Commission itself recently concluded that “too many boats continue to chase too few fish.” It blamed the situation, in large part, on subsidies. Fish, not human rights One of the most controversial forms of public aid pays for foreign fishing licenses. With its own waters increasingly empty of fish, the EU buys rights to the fishing grounds of developing countries such as Morocco, Mozambique and the Ivory Coast. Green groups, fishing experts and some EU politicians have criticized the agreements, saying European fishermen take advantage of poor countries that often lack knowledge and resources to protect their fish stocks. And key agreements cost more than they return on the value of fish; that is the case with Morocco, where each euro invested returns only €0.65 in value added, according to a study funded by the EU. The Spanish industry has received more than €800 million ($1.15 billion) in foreign licenses over the past decade — about two-thirds of the EU licenses overall, according to the ICIJ analysis. The agreements have the support of Carmen Fraga Estévez, the EU Parliament’s most powerful legislator on fisheries issues. A sharp-tongued politician with an encyclopedic knowledge of the industry, Fraga served as fishing secretary in Spain and has held a seat in the Parliament’s committee on fisheries — which she now chairs — for 17 years. Her loyalty to the industry appears to be so deep that when she had to choose between human rights and fish, she voted for the latter. “The Fisheries Committee has to discuss fisheries issues, not human rights,” she was quoted in the press as saying when in 2009 the committee for the first time voted down a fishing agreement. Days before the vote, 157 civilians died after Guinea’s totalitarian regime opened fire on pro-democracy protesters. The agreement would have handed the Guinean government €450,000 ($639,000) a year for fishing licenses. Fraga Estévez declined requests for interviews from ICIJ. Spanish member of the European Parliament (MEP) Josefa Andrés Barea said the subsidized foreign fishing licenses are vital. When Spain HYPERLINK "https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/241369-spainaccessiontreaty.htm l" entered the EU in 1986, very few Spanish vessels were allowed in the Union’s waters. So fishing in foreign waters was — and still is — the only way for many ship owners to make a living. And if Spain isn’t fishing, she said, less savory global players will scoop up the catch instead. "There's a fundamental problem here which is that major [fishing] powers like China will be there if we're not. And they don't have any rules,” Andrés said. “They're much more predatory than we are." Fewer fish, poorer fishermen EU waters are among the world’s most exploited. Scientists say three quarters of assessed fish stocks are overfished. Eels once served as a delicacy are so depleted scientists doubt they can recover despite a Europe-wide rescue plan. Irish Sea Cod, Baltic Sprat and West of Scotland herring are all on the downfall. The trend stretches across the globe. In 2006, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization estimated that 75 percent of the world fish stocks were fished to the very limit of — or beyond — sustainable levels. In its latest report, from last year, that figure had risen to 85 percent. “Europe has a long and dark history of overfishing,” said Boris Worm, one of the world´s most renowned marine biologists, working at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, Canada. In a 2003 study, Worm showed that industrialized fishing has, since 1950, emptied the oceans of nine out of 10 fish longer than 20 inches such as salmon, cod and halibut. Fewer fish mean fewer — and poorer — fishermen. Across the EU, the sector often costs taxpayers more than it produces. According to a HYPERLINK "https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/253584-oceanasubsidiesreport.ht ml" recent report by the environmental group Oceana, at least eight countries received more money in public aid in 2009 than the value of their landed fish. The fishing industry was the only segment of Spain’s economy that shrunk in the 2000s. The northwestern region of Galicia more than anywhere else in Europe relies on the industry — and the subsidies — to stay afloat. Yet the area lost a third of its fisheries-related jobs in the decade leading up to 2006. In the Galician port of Vigo on the Atlantic coast, more fish pass across the docks headed for consumers’ plates than in any other port in the world. Coastal towns are riddled with signs boasting subsidized fishing projects. Politicians include the sector as a central theme in their campaigns. The industry’s power was propelled by the 1960s push for industrialization by the fascist Franco regime. Franco himself was an avid fisherman and a Galician by birth. 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