French agriculture and fisheries minister Stéphane Travert, speaking in Luxembourg on Monday 18 June, restated his country’s opposition to pulse fishing which, he said, “is neither a solution nor an innovation”.
France repeated its opposition to this fishing method after the Dutch delegation raised the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) advice of 30 May, the substance of which is that pulse trawling has a lesser impact on ecosystems than traditional trawling.
The Netherlands and Belgium have called for this method of fishing to be authorised (the Council approved it on an experimental basis).
The European Parliament voted against authorising pulse fishing in the North Sea (see EUROPE 12035 and 11940).
At Monday’s Council meeting, the Italian minister, Gian Marco Centinaio, like his UK counterpart Michael Gove, expressed puzzlement at pulse fishing. Gove called on the Commission to report back on this issue in 2019. Germany and Denmark called for studies to continue on the impact of pulse fishing. France argued that the practice should be banned in order to protect our ecosystem and juveniles (sole, cod).
Pulse fishing has made the debate on technical measures more difficult. The trialogue on technical measures on 19 June has been cancelled. The Bulgarian Presidency is believed to be considering holding another trialogue meeting on 26 June. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)