Luxembourg, 11/04/2016 (Agence Europe) - The recent proposal on technical fishing techniques was given a rather warm welcome by European Fisheries Ministers on Monday 11 April in Luxembourg. Some of them, however, criticised the provisions on fishing gear, nets and the minimum sizes for fish landing (see EUROPE 11516).
Karmenu Vella, the European Commissioner for Fisheries welcomed the "warm welcome" demonstrated by the Council regarding the proposal on technical measures. He said that, "We all agree on the need to modernise our technical measures". He also said that "The examination of the proposal will start soon. From experience, we know that it will be hard to suppress the - almost natural - temptation to reintroduce details, or should I add: unnecessary details". According to Mr Vella " If we go in that direction, we run the risk of either not getting to a new agreed framework at all, or an outcome that is very similar to what we have now - overly complex, not fit for purpose".
The German delegation considered that the proposal was an "excellent basis for work". It also suggested that regional bodies should be able to take a position on the text. Sweden agrees with the objectives in the text and the link made with the framework directive on maritime ecosystems. This country is, however, against the general provisions proposed. France welcomed this "much awaited" proposal. It supported the Commission project to put a stop to rules on the way in which catches are decided (in order to take into account the catch obligation rule). The French delegation had difficulty with the definition proposed on "targeted fishing". On reference nets, France believes that the measures mentioned in the annex are sometimes more restrictive than what was proposed in the legislation in force. This is the case, for example, in north-western waters and reference nets of 120 mm for trawling gear and fixed nets in the context of demersal fisheries. Reference meshes are currently 100 mm. The Commissioner argued that "We do not want to increase net meshes". Portugal referred to a "crucial" proposal and defended the use of certain craft-based mesh nets.
Spain is "very happy" with the text proposed and the efforts made towards regionalisation. Nonetheless, it did make a number of remarks: the measures sometimes appear unjustified with regard to net mesh sizes; the power of the Council should not be reduced on technical measures. Poland defended the use of small-scale drift nets in the Baltic Sea. The Italian delegation said that the proposal went in the right direction. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)