Brussels, 29/01/2015 (Agence Europe) - Agreement between the Council and the European Parliament on the rules for implementing the requirement to land all catches (“omnibus” regulation ending discards at sea) was reached on Thursday 29 January.
The reform of the common fisheries policy, containing the requirement to land all catches, has come into force but the technical rules on implementation still had to be adopted. The practice of discarding fish came to an end on 1 January 2015 for pelagic species, such as anchovy, herring and sardines, and in the Baltic Sea (cod and salmon). Between 2016 and 2019, the landing obligation will come into force for demersal species, such as cod, haddock, sole, plaice and hake.
The Latvian Presidency and rapporteur Alain Cadec MEP (EPP, France) reached agreement on this “omnibus” regulation, which will still have to be formally adopted by the Parliament (in April) and the Council. The European Commission played the role of facilitator.
Cadec is happy particularly to have been able to bring a political point into this largely technical regulation: the member states will be required to provide the Commission with an annual report to ensure that the landing obligation is being properly implemented. The Commission will then report to the Council and the Parliament. “The landing obligation can now be applied with the necessary legal clarity. We will have concrete ways to assess and thus respond appropriately to the inevitable difficulties that fishermen and national authorities will face in complying with this new rule”, Cadec commented.
Peter Van Dalen (ECR, Netherlands) said a huge step forward had been taken. The agreement is “reasonable”, in his view. The annual reports will give the Parliament the opportunity and the power to change how things are done “when we realise that they are not working properly” Van Dalen stated.
Cadec was also successful in making the member states responsible for putting in place measures for handling non-marketable catches landed (juveniles) and ensuring outlets for these catches.
Timetable. The regulation will relate to every year of the timetable from 2015 to 2019, and thus to all the species covered. In December, negotiations on this issue failed, with the Parliament wanting only 2015 to be in the regulation.
Parallel market for juveniles. Producers' organisations will be required to take the necessary steps to avoid this kind of parallel market for small fish (those under the required size).
Infringement of the landing obligation. The penalty points system for infringement of the landing obligation will only be introduced in two years' time.
Storage of under-sized species. Under-sized catches will have to be stored separately from regulation-sized catches. Under-sized fish will not have to be stored in separate boxes according to species.
Remote video-monitoring. Video-monitoring has been removed from the text. Member states may, however, opt to use it on a voluntary basis.
Sorting flexibility for pelagic species. 10% of pelagic catches may be mixed (under-sized and regulation-sized fish), in order to facilitate the job of deck hands. Discarding fish that have been bitten by seals will also be permitted. (LC)