On 4 October, the Austrian presidency of the Council of the EU will hold a trilogue between institutions on technical fishing methods. The last point discussed in the negotiations will relate to trawling using electrical pulse current (see EUROPE 12049).
The Council is working at technical level on the question of fish net meshing. Member states have settled another important matter, namely: the quantitative targets and emergency measures taken by the Commission. The Commission has put forward an alternative proposal which suits the Council and European Parliament better, with provisions on the length of fish caught.
The Committee of Permanent Representatives of EU member states (Coreper) is due to meet at the end of September to assess the position to be defended during the next trilogue.
The most controversial issue remains that of electric pulse fishing, a technique that the Netherlands wishes to authorise without limit (with the support of the European Commission), while France (mainly supported by the United Kingdom and Italy) and the European Parliament are categorically opposed to this kind of trawl fishing.
During the last meeting of the Parliament’s fisheries committee last week, the European Parliament rapporteur on this issue, Gabriel Mato (EPP, Spain), was quite optimistic about the chances of soon finding a compromise on the complex issue of technical fishing measures. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)