The draft report by Gabriel Mato (EPP, Spain) on fisheries technical measures will be discussed by the European Parliament’s fisheries committee on 30 May, by which time the Council will already have adopted its negotiating position (see EUROPE 11783).
Numerous amendments to the Commission proposal are contained in the draft report, seeking to improve measures on the regionalisation of fisheries decision-making and to bring greater coherence to the measures to simplify the rules.
Mato says in the explanatory statement accompanying his draft report (available only in Spanish for the time being) that he hopes the proposals will reduce “micro-management” and will encourage greater involvement of the sector in decisions on the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP).
The Commission proposes, for example, to remove numerous existing derogations. Thus, many fishing practices could become illegal overnight, Mato worries. In addition, the amendments seek to prevent regionalisation being used to make adoption of technical measures a national matter.
Mato is of the view that the authorised limit of 5% of catches being below the minimum size is merely an exception to the principle of landing all catches (ending of discards at sea). Thus, he argues, this limit cannot be included in the objectives of the regulation on technical measures, especially as there is no scientific justification for it. Mato prefers to refer to the principle of stock management according to maximum sustainable yield (MSY). Lastly, the rapporteur stresses the role of the EU in putting in place, as part of regionalisation, multiannual fish stock management plans.
The fisheries committee is expected to adopt Mato’s report on technical measures in July, ahead of a plenary session vote in September. Thereafter, inter-institutional talks can begin. Negotiations between the Council and the European Parliament on this highly technical matter are not expected to be too confrontational, according to a source. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)