The European Commission adopted a proposal on Wednesday 29 March seeking to transpose into EU law the conservation, control and enforcement measures adopted by the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (SPRFMO), to which the European Union is a contracting party.
The SPRFMO is the regional fisheries management organisation (RFMO) responsible for the management of fishery resources in the South Pacific and adjoining seas excluding tuna and tuna-like species. The measures to be transposed were adopted by the SPRFMO in January 2017. The organisation’s conservation and management measures come into force 90 days after their notification and are binding on contracting parties and, in the case of the EU, must be incorporated into European law to the extent to which they are not already covered by EU legislation.
The regulation applies to the EU fishing vessels fishing in the SPRFMO Convention Area or, in the case of transhipments, in the area outside the SPRFMO Convention Area for the species caught in the SPRFMO Convention Area. It also applies to third country fishing vessels that access EU ports and that carry fishery products harvested in the Convention Area.
The proposal contains: - management, conservation and control measures relating to certain species (jack mackerel, measures to protect seabirds); - management measures for certain fishing methods (authorisations for fishing vessels, provisions on transhipment activities, data collection and reporting, surveillance and observer programmes, inspection in EU ports of third country fishing vessels and the procedure in cases of infringements during port inspections the circulation of information on illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing activities and measures vis-à-vis fishing vessels included in the SPRFMO IUU list. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)