The European Parliament was divided in plenary session on Tuesday 9 March on whether or not closed-circuit television (CCTV) systems should be mandatory to monitor the implementation by fishermen of the rule banning discards of fish at sea (see EUROPE 12663/11).
Broadly speaking, the S&D and Greens/EFA groups and the European Commission are in favour of the compulsory nature of this proven technology, while the others (EPP, Renew Europe, ID, ECR) advocate its optional use, except for ships that have committed serious infringements.
Objectives achieved. Clara Aguilera (S&D, Spain), rapporteur on the issue of recasting control procedures, recalled that after three years of debate, “we see the finishing line approaching”. She considered that after the vote in Parliament’s committee, “the results are there”.
She welcomed the progress made in the area of product traceability, the compulsory nature for all of fishing logs and geolocation, and the framework for recreational fishing (sanctions, licensing system). Finally, she pleaded for the mandatory installation of CCTV.
Virginijus Sinkevičius, the Commissioner for Fisheries, said that the control system should be modernised and comply with the ‘European Green Deal’.
He reiterated the Commission’s fears about the effects of certain Parliamentary amendments, such as the increase in the margin of tolerance when counting catches, which “will legalise under-declarations and lead to over-fishing”.
CCTV. In response to the MPs’ interventions, Mr Sinkevičius indicated that “the voluntary use of CCTV for the control of the landing obligation is an illusion”.
Since the 2013 reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), Member States can already use these technologies “but this has not happened and illegal discards continue”, he regretted, to justify the proposal imposing these CCTVs on all fishing vessels at risk of not complying with the end of discards.
Furthermore, he assured that the Commission would do its utmost to respect data protection.
“The sector perceives this technology as very intrusive and contrary to privacy and data protection; some people call it Big Brother”, said Francisco José Millán Mon (EPP, Spain).
Rosanna Conte (ID, Italy) called for CCTVs to be installed on a temporary basis and only for ships that have broken the rules.
“We have to keep our feet on the ground”, protested Bert-Jan Ruissen (ECR, Netherlands), who was very upset about the CCTV and the compulsory landing rule.
Margins of tolerance. In the event of a check at a port, the authorities compare the quantities actually landed with those recorded in the fishing logbook. Fishermen benefit from a margin of error (or margin of tolerance) in the census they carry out at sea.
This margin was 20% in 1983. It has been 10% since 2009. Parliament’s Committee on Fisheries voted in favour of an increase to 20% for small pelagic catches (herring, sprats, mackerel) and 25% for tuna.
The Commissioner Sinkevičius denounced the Parliament’s overly lax amendments in this area.
“One of the fundamental principles of the CFP is proper accounting of catches (reporting). Otherwise, there is no point in implementing quotas”, he said in plenary. The margin of tolerance is made to avoid under-reporting, especially for species under quota, such as Yellowfin tuna fished in the Indian Ocean, he explained.
Mr Sinkevičius estimated that large vessels today are able to estimate catches by a margin of less than 10%.
“If we were able to send men to the Moon in the 1960s, we can certainly estimate the catches with an uncertainty of 10% in 2021”, he concluded.
Caroline Roose (Greens/EFA, France) also criticised these Parliamentary amendments.
“We have to take into account what is landed, this allows flexibility and avoids disproportionate sanctions against fishermen”, said Manuel Pizarro (S&D, Portugal).
The vote on Ms Aguilera’s report will take place on Wednesday 10 March. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)