Brussels, 20/02/2013 (Agence Europe) - Subject to certain amendments, the committee on fisheries of the European Parliament has approved the proposal aiming to ban discards of fish in the Skagerrak (between the North Sea and the Baltic). In its adoption, on Tuesday 19 February, of the report by Werner Kuhn (EPP, Germany) on the proposed regulation concerning certain technical and control measures in the Skagerrak, the Parliament's committee on fisheries has taken position for the ban on discards to be staggered between 2014 and 2016 and implemented by means of a remote electronic monitoring system.
The fisheries committee was the scene of a major battle over whether television cameras on board vessels, a tool to verify the discard ban, should be obligatory or optional. In its narrow (12 votes in favour, 11 against) adoption of a compromise amendment presented by the S&D, Greens/EFA and ADLE groups, the committee on fisheries supported the philosophy of the initial proposal by laying down in the regulation that all vessels 12 metres in length or more have to set facilities in place to gather information and transmit them to the remote electronic monitoring system (REM). This system features closed-circuit television cameras (CCTV), GPS, transmitters and receivers. The EPP group (and several countries of the EU within the Council) would prefer this system to be optional, due to the economic burden on the sector and issues related to respect for the fishermen's privacy. Provisions have been laid down in a compromise amendment to ensure that the REM data are dealt with in line with the data protection rules.
The European Fisheries Fund (2014-2020) may grant financial aid to fishermen to help them put CCTV, GPS and transmitters and receivers in place.
Landing obligation
The committee on fisheries of the Parliament has taken position for the discards ban in the Skagerrak to be staggered between 2014 and 2016. The obligation to land species (which will arise from the end of discards) will concern 35 species caught by vessels operating in these waters (German, Belgian, Dutch, Danish, Sweden and Norwegian boats). The landing obligation will not apply to species with a high survival rate when discarded, as long as these species can be separated from the main catch. As regards the landing of juvenile fish, provisions have been laid down for the sale of these catches of small fish to be limited only to selling them for processing into fishmeal, pet food or other products not destined for human consumption. If catches of young fish have to be stored on land before further processing, the provisions stipulate that they must be stored separately from catch of the minimum required size.
The report on the technical and control measures in the Skagerrak is to be examined at the plenary session of April. The regulation will then get the green light of the member states before it can enter into force, from 2014, probably following the conclusion of a first-reading agreement with the Parliament. (LC/transl.fl)