The European Parliament gave the green light on Tuesday 24 October to the European Commission proposal to extend the Commission’s power to adopt delegated acts establishing discard plans – that is to say, implementing the ban on throwing fish overboard – for a further period of three years.
The rapporteur and chair of the European Parliament's fisheries committee, Alain Cadec (EPP, France), proposed that a simplified procedure with no amendments be used for this approval.
Current discard plans expire at the end of the year. The Commission must, therefore, put new plans in place. Regulation 1380/2013 requires fishermen to land their entire catches of species subject to catch limits or a minimum conservation reference size. The arrangements applying this requirement must, however, be set out in the regional multiannual management plans adopted by co-decision.
While awaiting adoption of these plans, on which delay has accrued (see EUROPE 11845), the Commission will have to put in place discard plans for three more years. It has already said that the proposal would allow it to issue new delegated acts on four discard plans: two in the Mediterranean and two covering western waters.
To date, only the multiannual plan for the Baltic is in place, while two Commission proposals, one relating to a multiannual plan for demersal species in the North Sea and the other to small pelagic fisheries in the Adriatic, are under discussion. (Original version in French)