Background

Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) constitute a serious threat to Baltic Sea fisheries. Unfortunately Poland was one of the biggest Baltic countries involved in IUU fishing during 2007. Since then, despite positive changes declared by the Polish Government and the Polish Fisheries Department, fisheries control in Poland has remained weak and unsatisfactory. Meanwhile bad fishing practices destroy national fisheries economy and have a negative influence on the condition of Baltic fish stocks. In order to address the problem of IUU fisheries in Poland, a National Action Plan on control and fleet restructuring between Poland and the European Commission was established in 2008 to improve the country’s system for fisheries control and enforcement.

Poor fisheries control is not limited to Poland but is occurring all over EU, with few offenses leading to legal repercussions, penalties being very low and insufficient standards of control, to name some of the problems. In October 2009, a new regulation for fisheries control (Council regulation 1224/2009) was therefore adopted by the European Fisheries Council, which inter alia aims at harmonization control and inspection standards as well as the levels of penalties. It also strives at making fisheries control more efficient and less expensive.

As the coastal areas constitute a small proportion of Poland’s total geographical area and a small proportion of the Polish inhabitants live by or near the coast, the public awareness of fisheries and its impacts on the Baltic Sea ecosystem is very low. The Polish public awareness about the dangers of IUU and unsustainable fishing is low. The Polish public therefore doesn’t play an active role in the elimination of IUU fishing. If the awareness would be higher, fish consumers would demand that the fish they buy would be caught legally. It would then be harder to sell IUU catches.

Objectives

• Increase public awareness about IUU by spreading information on sustainable fisheries in Baltic Sea.
• Strengthen Polish NGOs that are trying to enforce sustainable fishery through lobbying activities towards the reform of EU Common Fisheries Policy and EU fisheries control. The Lobbying activities includes participation in meetings with the Polish Fisheries Department, fisheries inspectors, scientists, fishing industry, NGOs and fishermen.
• Strengthen fisheries control  and fisheries administration's role in implementing the recommendations of the Green Federation Gaja concluded in a report.

Deliverables

• An updated report on Polish fisheries control (Polish and English version; 2000 copies)
• Presenting the moving exhibition in at least 20 cities/villages along Polish coast
• Screening the documentary film “The End of The Line” by Charles Clover and “For cod’s sake” By Folke Rydén Production in at least 10 big Polish cities.
• Press releases and sponsored articles about the Baltic Sea and its fisheries in local newspapers