Europe must ban electric pulse fishing 14 Nov. 2017 European waters are subject to the expansion of a new, radically effective and devastating fishing method for both marine ecosystems and fishers: electric pulse fishing. Although prohibited since 1998, the European Commission nonetheless started granting exemptions from 2007 to equip vessels with electrodes that send electrical impulses through the sediment in order to electrocute and dislodge the animals that live in it. Aside from the serious ethical and animal welfare concerns this method raises and the utter lack of management framework to monitor it, pulse fishing represents a continuation of long-term historic patterns of overfishing in which ever greater catching power is achieved at the expense of growing environmental damage. European waters have been fished for centuries and are now among the most overexploited in the world. According to a review published by the French Fisheries Association (AFH), fewer than 10% (accounting for 24% of landed volumes) of the 167 northeast Atlantic fish stocks evaluated in 2016 were fished sustainably. The state of the other stocks was either uncertain or frankly bad. Reducing the fishing effort must be the absolute priority if we want to enable fish stocks to rebuild, and fishing activities — which depend on a robust resource — to achieve sustainability and economic viability. Accepting the development of pulse fishing would threaten these objectives, as fishing effort would be multiplied and overexploitation aggravated. Yet again, technology will lead to massive job destruction, as many fishers will have to be sacrificed in order to compensate for much more efficient pulse trawlers. Small-scale coastal fishers are already hit, since pulse trawlers have spread to fragile inshore habitats, negatively impacting their fishing grounds as well as the breeding and nursery areas of many key species. Accepting the development of pulse fishing would also implicitly mean we admit failure: there are not enough fish left for fishers to fill their nets without needing increasingly efficient fishing gears. Industrial fishers are pushed into a technological escalation to compensate for a diminished resource. This is how Dutch trawlers got to the point where they started electrocuting marine organisms in order to capture those hiding in the sand and mud. A few years ago it was unthinkable, but now it happens every day. Despite good intentions, Europe still does not manage its fisheries in a way that guarantees successful rebuilding of fish populations. On the contrary, European funds even foster the development of this brutal fishing method. Several million euros have already been awarded to support "innovation", on the grounds that pulse fishing consumes less fuel than conventional bottom trawling, in which nets are dragged across the seabed. This argument is fallacious, as it could pave the way for other destructive practices such as explosives. All environmental, biological, and ethical criteria must be accounted for. How does using electricity impact other marine fauna, fish fry, crustaceans, invertebrates and electro- sensitive fish such as sharks? Testimonies from fishers are blunt: it is underwater carnage. In Hong Kong and China, pulse fishing has been banned since the late 1990s. The 1998 Hong Kong’s Fisheries Protection Bill indicates that “Electric fishing harms or even kills most fish, including fish fry and other marine life. Such methods of fishing have a long-term deleterious effect on fisheries resources and the marine ecosystem.” As a result, pulse fishing is considered an offence in these countries and is as severely punished as fishing with explosives or toxic substances. Anyone who practices it is liable to imprisonment. France strongly opposed electric pulse fishing in February 2017. Mrs Ségolène Royal, then Minister of Ecology, called on the European Commission to take a clear decision to prohibit pulse fishing. Instead, the Commission's legislative proposal currently under discussion in the European Parliament seeks to extend pulse fishing in Europe and to mainstream it as a 'conventional' fishing method, which it will never be. On November 21, the PECH Committee Members of the European Parliament will be voting on the issue of whether to mainstream pulse fishing. We call on all MEPs to abide by the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 2015, and in particular the objective to "end destructive fishing practices by 2020". By voting for a strict ban on pulse fishing in Europe and for all European vessels, MEPs will act as the true guardians of marine ecosystems and fishing communities. They will endorse a vision based on the health and productivity of the marine environment, not its desertification. Signatories: Ségolène Royal, Chair of COP21, former French Minister of Ecology Richard Benyon, UK Minister for Fisheries and the Natural Environment 2010-2013 Yannick Jadot, Member of the European Parliament (Greens/European Free Alliance) Anja Hazekamp, Member of the European Parliament (Confederal Group of the European United Left - Nordic Green Left) Isabelle Thomas, Member of the European Parliament (Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats) Philippe Cury, Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD) Callum Roberts, University of York Rainer Froese, Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research (GEOMAR) Didier Gascuel, Université européenne de Bretagne, Agrocampus Ouest Daniel Pauly, University of British Columbia Rashid Sumaila, University of British Columbia Ellen Pikitch, Stony Brook University Yunne-Jai Shin, Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD) Olivier Maury, Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD) Marta Coll, Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD) François Bonhomme, University of Montpellier .