Brussels, 10/03/2016 (Agence Europe) - Europêche (European association of national fishing federations and organisations) expressed its concern on Wednesday 9 March at the negotiations taking place on deep-sea fishing.
The Council reached agreement in 2015 on banning bottom trawling targeting deep-water species at depths of more than 800 metres. A further trialogue meeting of the EU institutions could be held in April, following their first meeting in December (see EUROPE 11436).
Members of Europêche met with DG MARE (Maritime Affairs and Fisheries) Director General Joao Aguiar Machado on Wednesday and told him that the proposal to ban bottom trawling below 800 metres would be in contradiction with the policy that the EU has followed internationally for over 10 years in the UN, FAO and regional fisheries management organisations (RFMOs). Europêche supports measures already in place within some regional organisations, measures such as freezing the footprint of deep sea activities (restricting operations to areas that are already fished) and temporary bans on fishing in certain zones. Europêche believes that the proposed ban below 800 metres is an “arbitrary” figure which has “no scientific basis”. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)