On 22 November, the European Parliament’s fisheries committee hopes to adopt the report by Clara Eugenia Aguilera García (S&D, Spain) to soften the proposals for the multiannual fish stock management plan for the Western Mediterranean (see EUROPE 12101). The negotiations with the Council will then begin to reach political agreement before the end of this European Parliament.
Rapporteur Aguilera García pointed out the salient points of the report, such as the difficulty of achieving stock management by 2020 according to maximum sustainable yield (MSY), the need for compensation for fishermen in the low fishing season, flexibility to be introduced (derogations) on the ban on bottom trawlers below 100 metres in depth, and scrapping measures for a TAC system (total admissible catches) and quotas that would be ineffective.
The European Commission has opposed this easing of the 100 metre rule, explaining that the option of a TAC in the Mediterranean needs to be preserved (only bluefin tuna has a TAC in the Mediterranean). The EPP group opposes TACs in the Mediterranean, but the Commission says this plan B has to be kept in case the fishing effort regime does not achieve the desired results in stock recuperation.
In the proposal, the regime will be reviewed five years after its introduction.
Clara Eugenia Aguilera García criticised the Commission for not wanting to change its proposal. Aguilera Garcia is trying to present a report that satisfies all the European Parliament’s political groups. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)