During a hearing at the European Parliament's fisheries committee in Brussels on Tuesday 28 November, João Machado, the director-general for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries at the European Commission (DG MARE) gave an update on the issues that are ongoing and those that are planned for the future within the sector.
He first said he was "not at all" convinced by the position that the European Parliament seemed to be taking with regard to the regulation on the conservation of fisheries resources and the protection of marine ecosystems through technical measures, which is due to be put to the vote in February (see EUROPE 11909). In Machado's view, "the die-hard regionalisation" of measures runs counter to the objective of simplification. His position was criticised by Gabriel Mato (EPP, Spain), who is the rapporteur for the text and who said: "I am not at all happy with the European Commission's attitude that simply wants to simplify legislation, but that at the same time maintains arbitrary and rigid objectives without any scientific basis". Mato gave assurances that the regionalisation of measures is needed in order to adapt them to local specificities.
Another file is on the multi-annual management plans for demersal stocks for the Western Mediterranean and Western waters, which the European Commission is due to adopt in the first quarter of 2018. Staff at DG MARE are in the process of finalising their impact assessments. But several MEPs, especially the coordinator of the Social-Democrat group, Riccardo Serrao Santos (Portugal), regretted that the Commission is planning on just one level for the Western waters instead of two, as initially foreseen (one for the North and another for the South). "There are interconnections between these two zones. Some boats from the North come and fish in the South. They shouldn't have to conform with two different regulations", Machado stated.
The last big proposal expected is on the revision of the fisheries monitoring system. The impact assessment for this is being finalised. Machado stated that it was important to revise the current system as it has too many loopholes. It therefore needs to be aligned with the revised Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) and simplified. Machado believes that by presenting a text by the end of April, it will be possible to reach an agreement between the institutions before the 2019 European elections. (Original version in French)