Activities of Liadh NÍ RIADA related to 2018/2035(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
A European Strategy for Plastics in a circular economy - Options to address the interface between chemical, product and waste legislation (debate) GA
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on a European strategy for plastics in a circular economy
Amendments (24)
Amendment 4 #
Draft opinion
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas lost andit is estimated that 80% of marine debris is plastic and that discarded or lost fishing gear constitutes the bulkis one of the many sources of marine plastic litter;
Amendment 10 #
Draft opinion
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas the majority of marine litter is of land-based origin1b and thus solutions to tackling marine plastic cannot be isolated from the overall plastics strategy; __________________ 1b Report: ´Plastics in the Marine Environment´, June 2016
Amendment 11 #
Draft opinion
Recital A b (new)
Recital A b (new)
Ab. whereas eight million metric tons1aa of plastic waste enter the oceans from land each year; __________________ 1aaReport: ‘A global inventory of small floating plastic debris´, 8 December 2015
Amendment 12 #
Draft opinion
Recital A c (new)
Recital A c (new)
Ac. whereas 94%1ac of the plastic that enters the ocean ends up on the sea floor; __________________ 1ac Report: ´Plastics in the Marine Environment´, June 2016
Amendment 24 #
Draft opinion
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas discarded plastic releasparticles into the water absorb toxic compounds thatand are then ingested and that can poison and kill fish, turtles, marine mammals and seabirds;by fish, turtles, marine mammals and birds, thereby adversely affecting their health and human health by entering the food chain; whereas it is estimated that 90% of seabirds in Europe and 73% of deep sea fish1a have ingested plastic in their stomachs; __________________ 1aReport: ‘Frequency of Microplastics in Mesopelagic Fishes from the Northwest Atlantic´, 19 February 2018
Amendment 38 #
Draft opinion
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas on 16 January 2018 Parliament adopted a resolution on international ocean governance: an agenda for the future of our oceans in the context of the 2030 SDGs1 which called for high ambition in the Strategy on Plastics and insisted on binding measures in order to adequately tackle the problem of marine litter at source; __________________ 1 Texts adopted, P8_TA(2018)0004.
Amendment 39 #
Draft opinion
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
Da. whereas many fishermen, anglers, grassroots and community organisations currently carry out and participate in clean ups with no financial assistances and are invaluable actors in tackling the plastic problem and highlighting its gravity; whereas local fishermen are stewards of the seas and are important actors in tackling marine plastics through fishing-for-litter schemes and should be encouraged to avail of financial assistance for environmental protection and protecting local fish stocks;
Amendment 44 #
Draft opinion
Recital D b (new)
Recital D b (new)
Db. whereas plastics have an adverse impact on seafood quality and safety; Recognizes that data and knowledge gaps exist for risks of small microplastics and nanoplastics in seafood, and consider applying risk analysis approaches;
Amendment 49 #
Draft opinion
Recital E a (new)
Recital E a (new)
Ea. whereas there is considerable consumer-confusion related to plastic terminology, particularly around biodegradable, bioplastic and bio-based plastics, and that education on plastics and clear information from plastic producers is critical to delivering on the plastics strategy;
Amendment 50 #
Draft opinion
Recital E b (new)
Recital E b (new)
Eb. whereas the European Commission has proposed a non-binding target of reducing marine litter by 30% by 2020 for the ten most common types of litter found on beaches, as well as for fishing gear found at sea; Whereas voluntary measures are insufficient in tackling the current crisis in marine plastics;
Amendment 51 #
Draft opinion
Recital E c (new)
Recital E c (new)
Ec. whereas the occurrence and impacts of microplastics in fisheries and aquaculture need to be comprehensively studied;
Amendment 54 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to implementntroduce a port reception scheme for end-of-life nets and to use the recommendations of the Best Practice Framework for the Management of Fishing Gear, liaising closely with the fishing sector to fight ghost fishing; invites the Commission to assess the environmental impact and the viability of using biodegradable fishing nets;
Amendment 64 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Stresses that tackling marine litter requires a whole series of interlinked and ambitious multilevel actions and that reduction in overall plastic use must be the priority of the plastics strategy;
Amendment 74 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to support the use of innovative fishing gear by encouraging fishermen to ‘trade in’ old nets and to adapt existing nets with net trackers and sensors linked to smart phone apps, radio frequency identification chips and vessel ‘creepers’ so that skippers can keep more accurate track of their nets and retrieve them if necessary; acknowledges the role that technology can play as one of many actions in tackling marine plastics;
Amendment 79 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Calls on the Commission and Member States to incentivize and assist fishermen and manufacturers to diversify away from using synthetic or plastic gears to use gears that are sustainably sourced and made exclusively from natural materials and fibres; Emphasizing the role cottage industries play in the circular economy, notes the traditional and historical role that the production and maintenance of non-synthetic gears has in fields such as net mending;
Amendment 88 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to establish and implement an EU-wide mandatory digital reporting system for gear lost by individual fishing vessels in support of recovery action, using data from regional databases, to share information on the Global Ghost Gear Initiative data portal and to develop SafeSeaNet into a user- friendly, EU-wide system, allowing fishermen to signal lost gear;
Amendment 90 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Notes the difficulties associated to identifying all sources of marine litter as well as the necessity for reliable data for identifying sources and pathways for marine litter; Calls on the Commission and Member States to enhance data collection in the area of marine plastics, plastic products placed on the market, and the chemical additives used in plastic products that can hinder recycling;
Amendment 105 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Calls on the Commission and Member States to acknowledge and differentiate in policy and regulation that fishermen who tend to be smaller scale not only have a high social and economic value within the circular economy, particularly in their communities, but also have a lower environmental impact in comparison with industrial fisheries, merchant shipping such as heavy freight and oil, and passenger ships such as ocean liners and cruise liners; Recognizes responsibilities of contributors to microplastic contamination from industry, sewage, transport, etc.
Amendment 109 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Calls on the Commission and Member States to ban the use of microplastics in their expected legislative measures and not simply restrict their use as microplastics have been scientifically proven to be not only detrimental to fish stocks, biodiversity and its natural processes and interactions, but also human health;
Amendment 114 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Paragraph 4 b (new)
4b. Calls on the Commission and Member States to facilitate and promote cost-effective and well-targeted monitoring of microplastics in the environment, biota and seafood products (market sampling)and promote capacity building and implementation of best practices in monitoring and the review of microplastics contamination of seafood and microplastics contamination effects on fish resources;
Amendment 118 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 c (new)
Paragraph 4 c (new)
4c. Calls on the Commission and Member States to adopt food safety risk analysis frameworks to evaluate hazards and risks to consumers of seafood contaminated with microplastics and to determine decisions and measures to ensure effective consumer protection and viable seafood trade;
Amendment 119 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 e (new)
Paragraph 4 e (new)
4e. Calls on the Commission and Member States to develop and promote the most appropriate approaches for monitoring microplastic contamination levels in commercial fish resources and the impacts of microplastic contamination on fish and fisheries products; Strengthening and harmonizing analytical methods used for detection and quantification of microplastics and nanoplastics, and ensure appropriate risk based interpretation of results;
Amendment 120 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 f (new)
Paragraph 4 f (new)
4f. Stresses the urgent need to communicate actively and adequately about hazards and risk management of microplastic contamination of seafood to the general public, food safety and consumer protection authorities, fisheries and aquaculture agencies as well as to the seafood industry;
Amendment 121 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 g (new)
Paragraph 4 g (new)
4g. Calls for cooperation between Member States, national and regional authorities, industry and stakeholders concerned with effects of microplastic and nanoplastic contamination and pollution impacts in fisheries, aquaculture and seafood supply chains;