The European Parliament will call for limited revision of the 2009 regulation on fisheries control in the EU, at its session in Strasbourg on Tuesday 4 October.
MEPs will, the previous day, debate the own initiative report by Isabelle Thomas (S&D, France) setting out ways of making fisheries controls uniform across Europe.
The Parliament will underline the need for the revision to retain effective rules able to prevent, detect and sanction infringements of the common fisheries policy (CFP). Greater harmonisation should be sought, “provided that this simplification is based on the strong existing control framework and does not entail a watering down of the highest standards of protection concerning labour, the environment, trade unions or society”.
The Parliament will call on the Commission to ensure that there is uniform and accurate transposition to verify the state of implementation of the existing legislation, for example, by establishing “a minimum percentage of consignments to be checked by each member state”.
Training. The report underlines the need for closer cooperation and coordination between the member states, the European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA), and the Commission. It calls on the agency and training institutions in the member states to apply a uniform European training curriculum for fisheries inspectors based on a common syllabus and standardised rules, part of the funding for which could come from the European maritime and fisheries fund (EMFF).
Strengthening the role of the Vigo-based EFCA. The Parliament will suggest that the idea of an EFCA electronic registry be examined, with ready-to-print or electronic models for inspections. The Parliament wants the role of the control agency to be strengthened, particularly its budget, competences and human resources.
And it suggests giving the EFCA the right to intervene in respect of fishery resources which are overexploited and those which have not reached the maximum sustainable yield (MSY). The report calls for at least two representatives from the European Parliament to be included on the management board of the agency, on which there are already six representatives from the Commission and one from each member state.
Harmonising sanctions. The Parliament will call for sanctions to be standardised, while keeping them at a level that is “proportional and non-discriminatory and that acts as a deterrent”. MEPs say they prefer economic sanctions, including temporary suspensions of activity, to penal sanctions. They note that it is the member states that have responsibility for sanctions and that the European Union is not legally able to impose standardisation thereof via the control regulation. The Parliament highlights, however, the importance of the points system in providing a framework for sanctions, and calls on the member states to take the initiative for an extensive standardisation of sanctions, in particular penal ones, in order to put an end to the inequities existing at present. It will also encourage the Commission and the member states to consider the development of a harmonised minimum-level penalty, applicable to serious infringements and/or repeated illegal behaviour. It will propose, too, that data exchange be made compulsory in connection with illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fisheries.
Electronic technologies. The Parliament will recommend that equivalent controls be applied to imported fishery products, to shore fishing and to recreational fishing, as well as to the EU fleet fishing in non-EU waters and to non-EU countries’ fleets fishing in EU waters “so as to ensure that the entire European market has an equivalent level of access”. The parliamentary fisheries committee also supports the inclusion of the impact of recreational fisheries in the revised control regulation.
Ending discards. The draft report stresses that implementation of the landing obligation (deriving from the rule banning the discarding of fish at sea) must be accompanied by appropriate flexibility with regard to its control, as the fundamental changes imposed on fisheries by this obligation should be taken into account, particularly as regards multi-species fisheries. It reiterates the importance of progressively applying sanctions and the points system in the event of serious infringements linked to non-compliance with the landing obligation. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)