When it meets in Brussels on Monday 5 December, the European Parliament’s fisheries committee is expected to approve the interinstitutional agreement on the new rules for deep-water fishing in the North-East Atlantic (see EUROPE 11648 and 11585).
The European Parliament will then adopt the deep-sea fishing regulation at the last plenary session of this year in Strasbourg 12-15 December. The text will come into force at the start of 2017. Spain voted against the regulation.
In order to protect habitats and fragile ecosystems, the compromise provides for a ban on trawling at depths of over 800 metres. The joint legislators have agreed that vessels found to be fishing in vulnerable marine ecosystems at a depth in excess of 400 metres will have to stop their operations and move at least five nautical miles away from the fishing area in question.
There will be a freeze on the fishing footprint by specifying the area in which deep-sea fishing will be allowed. This area includes the area in which targeted fishing took place between 2009 and 2011 in EU North-East Atlantic waters. This geographical boundary will apply to vessels targeting deep-sea species, that is, those whose deep-sea species catch makes up more than 8% of the total on at least one fishing trip during the year.
Parliament was successful in winning: - the introduction of specific penalties for vessels breaching the regulation on deep-sea fishing; - more stringent transparency rules that will require information to be published on EU vessels targeting deep-water species and all catches (fish and vulnerable ecosystems) to be reported.
Member states will also be required to provide information on the location of vulnerable ecosystems (impact assessments) and the Commission will assess this data annually and adapt the permitted fishing area accordingly (by means of implementing acts). Lastly, in an effort to ensure that scientific data is collected, 20% of vessels will be required to have a scientific observer on board. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)