Mr. Sander, how many fishermen are there in Germany?
Our industry is not doing well. Around 2000 employees subject to social security contributions still work in sea fishing. We come from five-digit numbers. In inland fisheries, including aquaculture, there are roughly twice as many.
What’s affecting your industry?
We are currently suffering from loss of fishing area. One wind turbine after the other is being built or planned in the North Sea. Half of the North Sea is already dense, and 40 percent more wind turbines are to come. We have already lost a lot through protected areas, dredging and dumping sites, cable routes, sea routes, pipelines and so on. There is little space left for fishing.
How close can you get to a wind turbine?
Some we have to stay more than 1000 meters away, some 500 meters. This is madness.
And how is it going in the Baltic Sea?
Not even better. There the catch quotas are continuously being reduced. The EU has just decided that there will be no more directed fisheries for western herring and cod for the next year. Only half as much western herring is allowed to be caught as by-catch. The by-catch quota for western cod has been reduced by 88 percent. Germany did not agree to the quotas.
There are reasons for the quotas: The stocks need to recover.
But that’s not how it works. There are adjacent areas where it is allowed to catch more herrings, and of course the fish swim there too. This is one of the reasons why we consider the quota decision to be far too far-reaching.
What are the consequences of the new quotas for fishermen in the Baltic Sea?
For full-time fishing in the Baltic Sea, that is death. The fishermen there will drive tourists in the future, if you let them, maybe there will be a few smaller ships for sale at the port. But normal fishing as we have known it for many years will no longer take place in the Baltic Sea.
And if the stocks grow again, would the German fishermen be gone?
Yes, you can’t start that up again. First, the ships are gone, scrapped, sold or converted. Second, the port facilities, the cold stores and the marketing will also have disappeared. The fish that are eaten in the Baltic Sea will then come from Southeast Asia or wherever.
Captain Dirk Sander is Vice President of the German Fisheries Association and has been a shrimp fisherman for 45 years.
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Image: Peter Garten
Do you feel abandoned?
The state ministries are in the process of putting together instrument boxes to see that they can still get a little something from the companies. One or the other company will certainly make use of this. The Federal Ministry has also announced that it will soon invite fishermen from the Baltic Sea to a round table. But we don’t want to live on subsidies forever, that’s very clear.
Now it is not the case that the catch quotas simply fall from the sky. They are based on scientific surveys that indicate that there is a risk of overfishing. Do you doubt these findings?
We need strong science that actually maps and explains what is going on outside. But unfortunately, savings were made there too. Recently, the numbers have often developed very differently from what was predicted. And now our industry is falling apart at these quotas.
What are you specifically asking for?
The few ships we still have should be allowed to sail with reasonable quotas so that the fishermen can continue to exist. And then you can see: is the fish getting less or not? I am convinced that we cannot exterminate the fish at all, as is always so beautifully claimed by the environmental associations.
In your opinion, do fishermen in Germany practice sustainable fishing? So can there be as many fish as can be removed?
Yes, the legal requirements in this country already ensure that. They lead to us being sustainable or working towards sustainability. Of course, you also don’t know whether this is always one hundred percent so that there is enough, it depends on many things. And tracking fish stocks is a science in itself.
How does the consumer recognize fish that has been caught sustainably?
Seals like the well-known MSC badge are a good thing in that regard. There are also a few others that customers can use as a guide.
What does a fisherman have to do to get such a seal?
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