Brussels, 29/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 28 October, the European Parliament approved the compromise reached with the Council on the transposition into the law of the Union of a number of recommendations of the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM agreement), with its adoption of the report by Gabriel Mato on this dossier (second reading).
The aim of this GFCM agreement is to create an appropriate framework for multilateral cooperation in order to promote the development, conservation, rational management and optimum use of live marine resources in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea at levels deemed sustainable.
The main problem facing the co-legislators was selecting the relevant legal mechanisms to call upon the member states to grant derogations, particularly as regards the use of trawls and gillnets in the Black Sea and the minimum basal diameter of colonies, gear and devices and harvesting of red coral. As regards the derogations to the ban on coastal trawling in the Black Sea, the EP accepted that these should be managed at the level of the member states, with a scrutiny right for the Commission. The aim is to allow, by way of exception, a limited number of vessels to use trawl nets within the Black Sea coastal zone. However, the Parliament made a statement indicating that it accepted the regime authorising the member states in question to grant these derogations, whilst stressing that these provisions were not to be taken or used as a precedent in any future legal act. As regards the question of how to grant derogations on the harvesting and minimum basal diameter of red coral colonies, the solution reached is as follows: within three months, the member states are to present common recommendations on the basis of article 18 of the basic regulation on the common fisheries policy (CFP) (regionalisation), together with detailed information on the national management framework.
On the issue of the gear and devices used to harvest red coral, the co-legislators agreed that the use of remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROV) for the purpose of the observation and prospection of red coral will continue to be permitted in zones under the jurisdiction of the member state, “provided that the ROV is not equipped with manipulator arms or any other allowing the cutting and harvesting of red coral”. These authorisations will expire or be withdrawn no later than on 31 December 2015, unless the member state concerned has obtained scientific results showing that the use of ROV beyond 31 December 2015 would have no negative impact on the sustainable exploitation of red coral. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)