30/06/2016 (Agence Europe) - Agreement on deep water fishing agreement. Negotiators from the European Parliament and Council reached an agreement on Thursday 30 June on the deepwater fisheries agreement (EUROPE will be returning to this agreement). This type of fishing will be banned if it is deeper than 800 m in the North East Atlantic, in an effort to protect vulnerable final ecosystems. A different provision has been added to the regulation: for deepwater fishing deeper than 400 m and if the quantity of vulnerable marine ecosystem indicators are above certain thresholds, the fishing vessel will have to cease all fishing operations. The imprint freeze (fishing sites) will apply to areas where vessels have fished between 2009 and 2011. 20% of European vessels will have to have a scientific observer aboard to ensure data collection. (LC)