On Tuesday 18 April, the European Commission unveiled a delegated regulation on implementation of the European Union's international obligations on discarded fish in areas covered by the International Convention for the Conservation of the Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) and the Convention on Future Multilateral Cooperation in the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries.
The EU has introduced a progressive requirement to land all catches (thus ending discards). This landing duty applies to all species from 1 January 2017.
Articles 5, 6 and 14 of the NCEM in combination create an obligation to discard catches made above the established catch or by-catch limits. With regard to Union vessels fishing in the NAFO Regulatory Area, the following NAFO fisheries are concerned: cod, witch flounder, American plaice, shortfin squid, yellowfin flounder, Greenland halibut, skates, redfish, white hake and northern prawns. The delegated regulation will clarify the situations in which the landing obligation should not apply, in order to ensure compliance by the European Union with its international obligations and create legal certainty for fishermen. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)