A política estrutural da pesca

Abstract

When in 2009 the European Commission started the legislative reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), which will come into force in 2013, recognized in the respective Green Paper that the objectives of European fishing sustainability, had not yet been achieved. One of the reasons identified, was precisely the perverse effects of the consecutive application of structural policies. Nevertheless, the current proposal regarding the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) supports the achievement of the objectives of the renewed CFP and the Integrated Maritime Policy (IMP), namely the balanced and inclusive regional development of the fishing areas. Considering these assumptions, the objective of this study consists in executing an assessment of the structural policy for fisheries in the European Union and Portugal, in terms of the Common Fisheries Policy since its beginning in 1957 until today. The analysis includes a first approach to the programming period 2000-2006 of the Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance (FIFG) in the European Union and Portugal, and a second approach to the European Fisheries Fund, focusing the implementation of Axis 4 - Sustainable Development of Fisheries Areas in the North Coast, Portugal. Although it is not possible yet to obtain detailed results, the study shows that this axis, once it is based on integrated local strategies, is effective in the use of local resources and potential and in the diversification of economic activities in order to improve the population quality of life and fishing communities’ sustainability. It is therefore a benefit for the implementation of the CFP and, as stated above, it is an advantage for the implementation of EMFF which one of its bases is the sustainable and inclusive territorial development.

Date of Award	May 2012
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa