49 Amendments of Pierre KARLESKIND related to 2019/2160(INI)
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 6 a (new)
Citation 6 a (new)
— having regard to the Commission report of 23 March 2020 on the implementation of the Commission Communication on a stronger and renewed strategic partnership with the EU’s outermost regions,
Amendment 9 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 9
Citation 9
— having regard to the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and itsto the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and in particular Sustainable Development Goal 14, ‘Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development’,
Amendment 11 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 10 a (new)
Citation 10 a (new)
— having regard to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) adopted in 1973 by the International Maritime Organization (IMO),
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas the marine waste visible on beaches, along coastlines, in coastal areas and on the surface of open bodies of water represents only a fraction of a much further reaching pollution phenomenon; whereas this waste stems from activities on land but also at sea, and ranges from nanoplastics to containers lost at sea both in the water column and on sea beds; whereas the cumulative mass of waste floating on the surface accounts for only 1% of plastic in the ocean; whereas the latest scientific research takes the view that the level of plastic pollution in the ocean has been largely underestimated and whereas there are still major gaps in oceanographic knowledge; whereas research into the spread of marine waste in the ocean is vital in order to better understand the extent of marine pollution;
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas the world ocean is a continuous body of water, whereas its good environmental status is vital to ensuring its resilience and its continued provision of ecosystem services such as CO2 absorption and oxygen production, and whereas any change in marine and coastal ecosystems could diminish its role as a climate regulator;
Amendment 32 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A b (new)
Recital A b (new)
Ab. whereas marine waste means all waste that has intentionally or unintentionally entered the marine environment and that is identified by size (nano-, micro- and mega-waste) and nature (containers, bulky waste lying on the ocean floor, plastics, fishing gear, textile fibres, microplastics);
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A c (new)
Recital A c (new)
Ac. whereas marine waste is a global challenge as it knows no borders and is carried huge distances around the world by ocean currents; whereas, across the world, large quantities of waste are still being dumped directly into the sea; whereas a holistic approach must be taken to marine pollution by supporting action at all levels, from local level to international level;
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A d (new)
Recital A d (new)
Ad. whereas the spread of marine waste around the world is affecting developing third countries, particularly coastal communities that depend on fishing and that do not necessarily have the capacity or means needed to effectively protect themselves;
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A e (new)
Recital A e (new)
Ae. whereas marine waste particularly accumulates around small remote islands and in coastal areas, whereas the outermost regions and the overseas countries and territories are host to 80% of Europe’s marine biodiversity, and whereas their economies are largely based on fishing and tourism;
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A f (new)
Recital A f (new)
Af. whereas the pollution of the ocean by plastic marine waste, and particularly microplastics, is compounded by meteorological phenomena that enable microplastics to spread through the air, rain and snow and that result in the pollution of environments once regarded as virgin, such as high mountains or the Antarctic, and even beyond the Arctic Circle;
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A g (new)
Recital A g (new)
Ag. whereas marine waste offers a surface to which many organisms or bacteria can cling, which facilitates the introduction of invasive species that can alter the balance of marine ecosystems, and whereas bacteria on marine waste can also be ingested by marine wildlife when it mistakes waste for food;
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the problem of waste at sea is largely the result of poor management of waste on land, ranging fromsuch as pollution of water courses and rivers and, poor management of waste and waste water to littering, but it is also caused by, illegal open landfills or landfills located close to water courses, littering, run-off of snow from roads and pavements directly into the sea, and natural run-off phenomena such as storms and rainfall;
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas the COVID-19 crisis has shown how the poor management of waste on land can quickly lead to new waves of marine pollution, particularly due to the use of single-use products such as surgical masks and disposable gloves;
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B b (new)
Recital B b (new)
Bb. whereas diffuse pollution, such as treated or untreated waste water, which can contain chemicals, or water that runs off or leaches from the urban or agricultural environment, threatens the marine environment with eutrophication due to the high concentration of nutrients, which can eventually starve sea beds of oxygen leading to the proliferation of ‘dead zones’, excessively increase the number of cyanobacteria, contribute to the phenomenon of green algae and red algae, and more extensively contaminate marine plants and wildlife;
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B c (new)
Recital B c (new)
Bc. whereas poor management of waste water networks places aquaculture producers and oyster farmers at risk as the quality of their products can be threatened by the presence of viruses and bacteria such as the noroviruses, which can result in temporary bans on the sale and distribution of their products if they are no longer fit for consumption;
Amendment 50 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas the presence of marine waste seriously undermines the resilience and productivity of marine ecosystems, particularly the most fragile, which are already facing many cumulative pressures, such as climate change; whereas it can also lead to the smothering of benthic organisms on sea beds and risks increasing disease due to the presence of pathogens;
Amendment 55 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas marine waste poses a serious threat to a number of marine animal species, due to risks of strangulation, suffocation, ingestion, injury and contamination, some of which are already endangered or even critically endangered;
Amendment 58 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
Da. whereas fisheries themselves generate marine waste, both when fishing at sea (loss or discarding of towed nets, buoys and longlines) and in shellfish farming and aquaculture (pots, bags), which can be lost through negligence, during onboard repairs, or as a result of accidents or episodes of bad weather; whereas this can be the entire fishing gear or parts of the original gear;
Amendment 67 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)
Recital E a (new)
Ea. whereas fishing gear lost or abandoned at sea continues to fish for years, as shown by the phenomenon of ghost nets, and indiscriminately impacts all marine wildlife, including fish stocks;
Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E b (new)
Recital E b (new)
Eb. whereas marine waste also impacts the quality of catches, which can be contaminated by this waste;
Amendment 73 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F a (new)
Recital F a (new)
Fa. whereas, by nature, fishing gear differs significantly depending on whether it is used as passive gear (gillnets, longlines, pots or creels, fish-aggregating devices) or active gear such as trawl nets, and has a different impact on the marine environment, and whereas fishing gear with the greatest impact should be gradually replaced by techniques that are more compatible with the marine environment;
Amendment 76 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F b (new)
Recital F b (new)
Fb. whereas waste from fishing activities generally consists of hard- wearing, non-degradable and polymer- based synthetic materials such as polyethylene, polypropylene and polyamide, which, once collected, pose sorting and recycling challenges due to their mixed use in fishing gear and their purity, given that material exposed to UV and the marine environment deteriorates and becomes contaminated more quickly;
Amendment 77 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F c (new)
Recital F c (new)
Fc. whereas the challenges of designing, disassembling and recycling such materials must also take account of the requirements of technical measures associated with fishing gear under the common fisheries policy, so that there is no risk of a long-term change in the quality, durability and efficiency of gear or technical obligations such as mesh size;
Amendment 79 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas only 1.5%17 of fishing gear is recycled and whereas there is an urgent need to provide support for the collection, recycling and repair of gear; whereas the sector could benefit from new economic opportunities by committing to a circular economy based on smart design, research and innovation; _________________ 17 ibid.
Amendment 83 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G a (new)
Recital G a (new)
Ga. whereas fishermen and aquaculture producers cannot be expected to collect marine waste without a compensation mechanism tailored to their efforts;
Amendment 89 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G c (new)
Recital G c (new)
Gc. whereas fishing activity largely takes place in coastal areas, whereas the European Union is trying to promote an integrated approach to marine activities and whereas marine waste must be tackled by taking greater account of the spatial dimension of maritime and coastal activities;
Amendment 90 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G d (new)
Recital G d (new)
Gd. whereas the deterioration of marine and coastal ecosystems poses a risk to all economic operators in coastal areas and therefore threatens the sustainability, durability and attractiveness of coastal communities;
Amendment 91 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G e (new)
Recital G e (new)
Ge. whereas fishermen and their associations are already working to collect waste and solutions for recovering marine waste, particularly waste from fishing, already exist;
Amendment 94 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. SPoints out that keeping marine ecosystems healthy and tackling marine waste are issues involving many existing laws, and only an integrated and coherent approach to the European objectives will enable the existing legislative framework to be improved and the extent of the cumulative pressures to be better understood; stresses the need to revise the EU’s integrated maritime policy with a view to establishing a more strategic framework that incorporates all marine environment laws;
Amendment 99 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Points out that the maritime vision urgently needs to be reinforced in the European Union’s new strategies, particularly the European Green Deal, the Biodiversity Strategy and the Farm to Fork Strategy;
Amendment 102 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Amendment 103 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 c (new)
Paragraph 1 c (new)
1c. Calls on the Commission to extend the MSFD to the outermost regions;
Amendment 104 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 d (new)
Paragraph 1 d (new)
1d. Calls on the Commission, in the context of the Regulation on port services, to present implementing acts laying down eligibility criteria for a reduced charge for ‘green ships’, and methodological criteria for calculating the volume and quantity of passively caught waste, so that the marine waste reduction targets, as laid down by the Directive, can be quickly implemented;
Amendment 105 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 e (new)
Paragraph 1 e (new)
1e. Calls for the framework of the Maritime Spatial Planning Directive to be improved so that it takes account of the spatial dimension of the fight against marine waste;
Amendment 113 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Calls on the European Union to reinforce international initiatives such as the Global Partnership on Marine Litter, launched by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular Sustainable Development Goal 14, ‘Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development’;
Amendment 115 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 b (new)
Paragraph 2 b (new)
2b. Stresses the importance of continuing and stepping up the fight against IUU fishing, fisheries control and penalties for associated criminal practices, given that intrinsically polluting and illegal activities contribute to the deterioration of the marine environment;
Amendment 128 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Encourages the establishment of cooperation networks between the governments of the Member States, fishermen’s associations, waste water bodies, coastal stakeholders, ports, NGOs and regional conventions in order to facilitate cooperation between stakeholders and ensure the implementation of good practices in certain areas such as collection operations and recycling;
Amendment 131 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Paragraph 4 b (new)
4b. Points out that marine protected areas can act as excellent laboratories for the implementation of solutions to tackle marine waste, by taking account of interactions between activities on land and those at sea and by supporting cooperation between the various maritime and land-based stakeholders with regard to the challenges facing marine and coastal ecosystems;
Amendment 150 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Points out that, in the absence of a definition of biodegradability, care must be taken when labelling and recovering certain products as some members of the public may end up being less careful in the management of their waste, given that a recent study by the University of Plymouth has shown that bags labelled as ‘biodegradable’ have been found virtually intact in the marine environment several years after being discarded;
Amendment 160 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Stresses that reducing the impact of marine waste is contingent on improvements to the circular economy on land, and on the adoption of a life-cycle approach in the fisheries sector; underlines that the circular economy in the fisheries sector must be developed through greater support for solution finding, smart design of fishing gear and innovation in fishing and aquaculture techniques in order to limit waste dumping, make collection operations more attractive and increase the development of efficient recycling channels;
Amendment 171 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10a. Urges the Commission to set an appropriate, ambitious and binding European target for both the collection and recycling of fishing gear;
Amendment 184 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Calls on the Commission to draw up an EU-level action plan to combat littering so that the pollution of rivers and water courses can be drastically reduced in a coordinated manner; calls for the run-off of snow from roads and pavements directly into the ocean to be minimised, in particular by supporting alternative collection methods during exceptionally heavy snowfall;
Amendment 189 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12a. Stresses that waste water networks and treatment plants must be upgraded in order to reduce the impact on aquaculture and the marine and coastal environment in general, particularly the risks of aquaculture products being contaminated;
Amendment 191 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 b (new)
Paragraph 12 b (new)
12b. Calls on the Commission to increase the awareness of maritime operators in all their potential interactions with the marine environment, in particular during the sale or leasing of ships;
Amendment 200 #
14. Stresses that only seven Member States have used the European Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund for marine waste active collection programmes, and that the role of fishermen in voluntary collection programmes which make it possible to identify, collect and recycle marine waste, such as the ‘Fish for Litter’ programme must be promoted and supported;
Amendment 205 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14a. Calls on the Commission to act on the recommendations made by Mission Starfish 2030 on tackling marine waste, and in particular to assess the proposal for the marking of fishing gear, using new geolocation technologies, in order to help locate and collect lost gear;
Amendment 229 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Stresses that little is known about nano- and microplastic pollution and its effect on the environment and on human health; points out that this lack of knowledge may make consumers distrustful of the quality of fisheries and aquaculture products, and that scientific research is needed to better understand this pollution phenomenon;
Amendment 232 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Welcomes the preparatory work done by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) on restrictions on microplastics intentionally added to products; Calls on the Commission to be ambitious in following up this proposal, including by exploring the problem of the spread of nano- and microplastics in the water cycle, particularly those released into the environment unintentionally;
Amendment 233 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17a. Calls on the Commission to tackle the problem of the loss and spread of microplastics, such as plastic pellets, in the environment throughout the supply chain, especially during land or sea transport, and the associated risks of spillage;