Brussels, 18/09/2012 (Agence Europe) - The fisheries sector criticises the radical proposals put forward by the European Commission on banning the practice of discards, that is the practice of throwing unwanted fish back into the water. The sector, however, seeks to be constructive in its approach. On Tuesday 18 September, fisheries associations presented their ideas suggesting an obligation to offload (thereby banning discards) species of fish and crustaceans whose stocks are threatened (giving supporting scientific data), and a reduction in discards per fishery or per stock for all other species. They set the date of 1 January 2019 for attaining objectives on discard reduction.
The above proposals were set out by the association of national organisations of fishing enterprises in the EU (Europêche), the European Association of Fish Producer Organisation (EAPO), and COGECA-Fisheries. The associations base their arguments on the principle that a discards ban is one management approach among others, which must be used in this case as a “targeted management tool where a stock is in danger of impaired recruitment”. The fishing associations, which propose a further drafting of Article 15 of the proposal for a regulation on reform of Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) (the article on it being an obligation to discard fish species), suggests a clear definition of endangered stock. A stock is in danger when the biomass indicator (SSB for Spawning Stock Biomass) is below limit point (B lim) for three consecutive years. The stock is no longer in danger when its size is above the limit point (B lim) during three consecutive years. As soon as a stock is considered no longer in danger, the ban on discards is suspended. The ban on discards in that context would apply from 1 January 2015, according to the proposal from the associations. They suggest a tolerance margin of 5% of discards (in management plans) and the EU countries would be under an obligation to provide a discards card showing the level of discards in the fisheries concerned.
The fishing associations suggest, in addition to the obligation to offload endangered species in ports, an “ambitious and verifiable” discards reduction plan. Reduction of discards would apply to stocks that are out of danger, according to an approach per fishery or per stock. There would be discard reduction objectives to be reached, objectives being fixed in the management plans for each fishery or stock. The discard reduction targets should be reached by 1 January 2019 at the latest. If there is no agreement on the management plans by 2016, there will be a 50% reduction in discards applied by 1 January 2019 at the latest. If the deadline of 2019 is not met for any stock, then the ban on discards would apply for that stock or that fishing activity.
The Commission would have the role of supervising the process for the setting in place of management plans and be empowered to adopt delegated acts for achieving development of management plans comprising discard reduction targets. The Commission would have the right to initiate proposals for amending regulation that inhibits or prevents achieving the discards reduction objectives. (LC/transl.jl)