On Tuesday 21 November, the European Parliament’s fisheries committee adopted its report on the European Commission proposal seeking to incorporate into EU law the conservation, control and enforcement measures recently adopted by the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (SPRFMO) to which the European Union is a contracting party (see EUROPE 11757). Inter-institutional negotiations can now be opened with the Council and the European Commission.
These measures are on illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, the management of certain species, ways of reducing the mortality of seabirds and exploratory fishing. They were adopted by the SPRFMO in January 2017. The regulation will apply to EU vessels fishing in the SPRFMO convention area or, where there is transhipment outside the SPRFMO convention area, transhipping species caught inside SPRFMO convention area. It also applies to third-country vessels entering EU ports and transhipping products from the convention area.
EU vessels in this area are principally engaged in pelagic trawling for Chilean jack mackerel. The 2017 total allowable catch (TAC) is 443,000 tonnes, with the EU allocated 30,150 tonnes. The 2018 TAC has been kept at the same level. (Original version in French)