Next spring, pulse fishing will be reviewed again after already being banned by the European Parliament. The European Commission promised this when discussing the ICES report during the European Parliament’s Committee on Fisheries on 16 November. The report offers scientific data about the ecological effects of pulse fishing.

Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Peter van Dalen (of Dutch political party ChristenUnie), is happy there will be another review: ‘The pulse is the Green Deal of fishing methods. But it was unfortunately banned last year by a majority of the European Parliament.’

On Monday 16 November, the chairman of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) Advisory Committee, Mark Dickey-Collas, explained the results of the ICES study on pulse fishing to the EP Fisheries Committee. This ICES report shows that this fishing method has significantly less impact on the ecology and the environment than traditional beam trawling.

‘Through a deceitful lobby from France, the European Parliament finally voted against pulse fishing,’ adds Van Dalen. ‘That ban should be lifted because the decision was not based on scientific research. With this study in hand, a total ban on pulse fishing is no longer justifiable.’

The pulse will therefore be discussed again during the evaluation of the current Technical measures for Fisheries. This will happen within 6 months.

Picture by Ecomare/Oscar Bos.