Brussels, 30/04/2014 (Agence Europe) - The Council of Ministers of the EU is soon to adopt, without debate (with the abstention of Romania), the text of the regulation on the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF). The Committee of Permanent Representatives of the Member States of the EU (Coreper) confirmed its agreement on the text adopted by the European Parliament on 16 April of this year, which includes the compromise between the institutions (see EUROPE 11063). The regulation will enter into force by no later than early June.
The EMFF has a budget of €6.4 billion for the period 2014-2020. It provides for various measures such as: - start-up aid (for fishermen under the age of 40 acquiring a boat less than 24 metres in length for the first time); - diversification of income (development of activities in addition to the principal fishing activity); - innovation (design of more modern and environmentally friendly boats); - investment in processing and marketing (support for production and marketing plans implemented by producer organisations); - structural support for producer organisations (investments in the processing sector and in marketing); - storage aid (maximum 2% of the value of produce placed on the market, with this aid to be removed in 2019); - engine replacement (affects vessels less than 24 m in length, accepted subject to reducing engine size, specifically 20% less for boats 12-18 m in length and 30% less for those in the 18-24 m bracket); - decommissioning (first option: scrappage aid possible up to 31 December 2017; second option: reallocating the vessel to activities other than fishing); - temporary cessation (resource preservation measures, such as temporary cessation, or support in the event of not renewing fishing agreements with third countries; aid for up to 6 months); - mutualisation fund (contributing to insurance systems to compensate fishermen for losses as a result of adverse weather conditions, natural disasters or environmental accidents; the losses caused must be more than 30% of annual turnover); - health, hygiene and safety on board and safety conditions); - improving energy efficiency (on-board investment and studies to improve the energy efficiency of vessels and to reduce their CO2 emissions); - professional training; - coexisting with wild predators (investments in equipment to protect fishing gear and compensation mechanism for damage caused by wild predators); - protection of the marine environment (involvement of fishermen in initiaitves to protect the marine environment); - partnerships between scientists and fishermen (“blue contracts”); - diseases in shellfish farming (support for action plans set in place by the authorities to eradicate these diseases, support for producers to maintain natural reserves of shellfish and compensation for producers in the event of exceptional mass mortality, if the mortality rate exceeds 20% or more than 35% of the annual turnover); - various measures to promote fishfarming (business creation support, innovation, development of infrastructure, contribution to farm insurance to cover natural disasters or adverse weather conditions, if the losses are more than 30% of the annual turnover).
The text of the regulation also provides for temporary cessation, decommissioning and engine replacement to be limited to €6 million for each member state. (LC)