Malta may not have exported its Christian values to Europe in the end. But former foreign minister Joe Borg, who is today responsible for the Union’s fisheries and maritime policies, has nonetheless managed to bring to the Commission another national knack of ours: that of “striking a balance between environmental and commercial interests.”
A week ahead of a crucial ICAAT (International Convention for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna) meeting in Antalya, Turkey, where the ultimate fate of the bluefin tuna fisheries is likely to be decided, Borg harps on what many will recognise as a mantra for the local political party he once represented. The environment is important, certainly; but so are the interests of the thousands of people who depend on European fisheries for their livelihood.
“Environmentalist groups are never happy,” he admits with an air of resignation at the Executive Lounge of the Portomaso Hilton, where we met for an interview during a fleeting visit ahead of the Antalya summit. “They want to recover fish stocks overnight. Naturally they have every right to expect more. And in an ideal world, I’d agree with them entirely. But the reality is that there are people’s livelihoods are at stake. This is something I cannot ignore.”
This sort of two-pronged approach to the issue – juggling human and icthyological interests at the same time – represents Joe Borg’s “new way of doing fisheries”: his own personal contribution to transforming a Commission which had hitherto been by and large a technical affair.
“Before I was appointed (in 2004), decisions were taken on the basis of pure science, without looking at how the fisheries sector would be affected. In a sense it is as it should be, but I argued for the need to also engage with the sector; to help it face up to the problems and challenges.”
Sounds reasonable? Possibly. But this approach has nonetheless cost Joe Borg a good deal in terms of international reproach. Among the first major battles to face the freshly-appointed Commissioner involved the dwindling stocks of North Sea cod: the same fish which for centuries provided a lifeline to the communities of Scandinavia and other parts of Northern Europe, but which has been driven to near extinction by decades of industrial over-fishing. Before he knew it, Borg found himself caught up, hook line and sinker, in the crossfire of the so-called “Cod Wars”.
“The advice we were given by scientists over the last six or seven years was to reduce TAC (Total Allowable Catch) to zero. In other words, to ban cod fishing altogether. Had we followed this advice, all the fisheries would have gone out of business. The reality is that we just couldn’t do it. So instead, we formulated a recovery plan for cod which gradually reduced the quota on a year by year basis.”
It was a compromise which satisfied no one at first. Not only was Joe Borg pan-fried by the North Atlantic fishing lobby – especially in Scotland, where he was pre-emptively blamed for the demise of the entire industry; but he was also barbecued by various conservation groups, among them the World Wildlife Fund, which demanded nothing less than a total moratorium.
Elsewhere, Borg’s decision to ignore the scientists’ recommendation was described as a “tactical blunder” by the Eurosceptic British newspaper The Telegraph… the same newspaper which would later, and in very unflattering terms, accuse Joe Borg of caving in to similar pressures by Spain and France to keep open the Mediterranean tuna fisheries.
But Malta’s Commissioner insists that his was a deliberate strategy, and more significantly that it has since paid off. “This year, scientists have for the first time recommended that we set a slightly higher TAC for North Sea cod. The cod stocks are in fact recovering, which means that one can still achieve results over a longer timeframe. In this respect, I think we are moving in the right direction, even though it may take a little longer than the conservationists would like.”
For Joe Borg this was not just a personal vindication after much vilification in the international press; it also suggests that what works for North Sea cod might also work for Atlantic bluefin tuna – that giant of an ocean going predator which is currently facing untimely extinction on account of massive over-fishing, especially in the Mediterranean. Is the Commissioner confident that his “cod plan of salvation” might be replicated with regard to tuna? Joe Borg exudes cautious optimism, but immediately points out that the situation regarding bluefin tuna is slightly more complicated than it was for cod.
“The difference is that there are enormous amounts of money involved in the tuna industry, and where you have huge profits, you also have a much higher risk of illegal activity.”
Hence the difficulty: for while the legal fisheries may be closed or somehow controlled through legislation, illegal fisheries, by definition, cannot. Besides, the word “enormous” may actually fall short of describing the sheer extent of illegal fishing for Mediterranean bluefin tuna. “Thunnus thynnus” is a delicacy prized above all others by the immensely lucrative Japanese seafood market. Incredible as this may sound, Japan’s appetite for tuna sushi is such that a single unfortunate specimen now commands prices of anything up to €70,000 on the Tsukijui market in Tokyo.
To drive this point home, Borg points out how the EU is often portrayed as the second largest fishery in the world after China. This, he claims, is arguably no longer the case.
“The Community is actually the world’s third largest fishery. China is still the largest, but in pure value terms, the second largest is now the illegal fisheries market. An estimated €1 billion worth of illegal fish finds its way onto the EU market each year. Worldwide, the estimated worth of the black fishing economy is around €8-9 billion…”
Mind-boggling figures, which not only account for the rapid disappearance of Atlantic bluefin tuna from the Mediterranean, but may also explain the ubiquitous involvement of organised crime. This summer, WWF activists embroiled in the tuna controversy complained about receiving the “white feather” – a death threat traditionally associated with the Sicilian mafia – and local fishermen have talked about situations resembling open warfare out on the high seas wherever a catch is disputed.
Even without weighing in the criminal factor, the situation is greatly aggravated by the complexities of multi-national fishing conglomerates.
“We can always set systems to reduce illegal fishing within the Community,” Borg explains, “but our options are limited when it comes to dealing with third countries.”
Malta had direct experience of this in 2005, when Spanish fishing giant Fuentes teamed up with Seif Al Islam Ghaddafi, the Libyan leader’s wayward son, to declare a “marine conservation zone” outside the Gulf of Sirte to the west of Malta – an area which happened to be Malta’s traditional fishing grounds, and also among the last spawning zones for the Atlantic bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean.
The issue has since been patched up, mainly through bilateral arrangements between Malta and Libya. But it nonetheless illustrates the difficulty in drawing up common rules which extend beyond the borders of the EU27.
For all this, Borg – like Baldric before him – has a cunning plan: “We are proposing new regulations which will make illegal fishing as difficult as possible – next to impossible, we hope.”
A key factor in these new regulations involves the port state’s responsibility to ask fishing vessels to provide certification from the flag state that the fish were legally caught: no certificate, no permission to land their fish.
As EU member states are already obliged to provide certification, this measure is clearly aimed at third countries like Libya, Tunisia, Turkey and others with commercial links to European fisheries… as is the possibility of blacklisting, both of vessels and of the flag state, in the case of repeated offences.
More dramatically, Joe Borg suggests imposing sanctions on individual fisheries which over-fish or under-declare. In extremis, the Commissioner also hints at the possibility of trade sanctions against offending states, including the prohibition of any importation of their products to Europe.
But before any measures can be announced, Borg first has to negotiate the minefield of political, commercial and environmental interests that dominates the hugely sensitive issue of next year’s Total Allocated Catch for tuna fisheries: an announcement which will affect thousands of people employed in Europe’s fisheries industry and millions of sushi and sashimi aficionados worldwide, not to mention the world population of bluefin tuna, which the WWF claims is facing “imminent total stocks collapse”.
“The Commission relies on information provided by member States, and this year, all the indications point towards an over-shoot of last year’s EU quota,” Borg explains with regard to the brewing controversy. “This means that next year’s quota will have to be reduced, though it remains to be seen exactly how and to what extent.”
The total European overshoot works out at around 26 per cent. Most of this is accounted for by France alone, with Italy admitting to its share in a small percentage of the illegal landings. The rest of the Community, including Malta, all claim to have underutilised their quota. Malta has even formally requested an increase in next year’s quota on this basis: but while the Commissioner will not be drawn into commenting on this request, he nonetheless makes it clear that increased quotas, in the present climate, are not looking likely for the near future.
“We now have to decide how best to make good for this 26 per cent tuna overshoot when setting each individual country’s TAC for next season,” he points out, adding that part of the process involves waiting for the Japanese markets to release their import data, so the individual claims of European fisheries can be measured against the amounts sold off to the world’s largest consumer of bluefin tuna. Results are expected around January, which is when Joe Borg will have some very tough decisions to take.
Already, the inevitable reduction in EU quotas for next year is being hotly contested by interested countries. Spain – a country with its own fair share of illegal fishing accusations – has tabled a motion, with the support of other Mediterranean countries including Malta, whereby the excess quota should be reduced only from those countries which actually overshot their own TAC. France, needless to add, is not amused.
It is a delicate situation, complicated by the fact that WWF has just accused Spain of lying about its own data.
“It is too early to say what mitigating measures we will have to take. The total Community quota will have to be reduced, but not necessarily all in one go. We may choose to introduce a gradual reduction over a number of years, to help fisheries adjust to the situation…”
But even as individual states are already fighting over the scraps ahead of next year’s multi-billion euro decision, conservation groups like the WWF insist that nothing short of a complete ban on the industry will save the bluefin tuna from an otherwise certain extinction.
All things told, then, Joe Borg may have landed himself in deeper waters than expected when appointed to what originally appeared to be a lightweight Commission in 2004. Looking back on his three years as Commissioner, he admits that what surprised him the most is in fact the sheer importance of the fisheries sector in the greater scheme of things.
“I was surprised by its political relevance, which far outweighs its actual economic contribution; at the significant lobbying which takes place on all fronts, at the emotions which surround the issues. It’s been an enormous challenge. I hope that in the last years I have managed to get the Commission moving in the right direction. I will not have met the expectations of certain lobbyists, that’s for sure, but I’m nonetheless satisfied that we’re on the right track.”
Meanwhile, the Commissioner’s term expires in 2009. Is five years in Europe’s fishiest business enough for the former PN candidate from the ninth district? Or can we expect a dramatic comeback to Maltese politics afterwards?
Joe Borg shakes his head with a wry smile. “My hope is to come back to Malta and do a little lecturing, which I’ve always loved doing. I’ll be 58 when my term comes to an end, and I somehow don’t think I’ll be looking at far-off horizons by then.”