On Thursday 11 March, the European Parliament adopted its negotiating position on the redrafting of monitoring procedures for fishing activities (see EUROPE 12674/4).
When it adopted the report by Clara Aguilera (S&D, Spain) (by 439 votes to 190 against, with 66 abstentions), which amends the initial proposal on monitoring, the European Parliament included provision for an increase in some margins of error in catch declarations.
In some cases, closed circuit television (CCTV) systems will be mandatory, in order to monitor fishermen’s compliance with the rule on the obligation to land all catches (putting an end to fish discards).
“Onboard logbooks and geolocation will be mandatory for all EU vessels, although a simplified system is being introduced for small vessels of less than 12 metres”, Aguilera said in a statement (https://bit.ly/2OlzmF3 ).
CCTV. The European Parliament narrowly adopted an amendment tabled by the S&D and Greens/EFA groups that includes a requirement to use on-board cameras (CCTV) to monitor the discard ban rule “for a minimum percentage” of vessels over 12 metres that are deemed to “present a high risk of non-compliance with the landing obligation” (by 339 votes to 331, with 25 abstentions).
This is a compromise that should satisfy the European Commission, which, during Tuesday’s debate, protested against the vote by the European Parliament Committee on Fisheries to make CCTV optional.
The European Parliament is also in favour of using CCTV as a sanction against ships that commit two or more serious infringements.
Vessels that are willing to carry on-board cameras on a voluntary basis would be entitled to incentives in the form of additional quotas or removal of points accumulated from previous infringements.
MEPs supported provisions to standardise sanctions and to create an EU register of infringements (to centralise information from all Member States). There is also a sanctions and licensing regime for offences committed by operators of recreational fishing vessels.
Margin of tolerance. The Commission will not be satisfied on this issue. The European Parliament also endorsed the compromise adopted in the European Parliament Committee on Fisheries on the margin of tolerance (or margin of error) (by 354 votes to 326 against, with 15 abstentions): compared with quantities landed or inspection outcomes, in general the tolerance allowed in the estimates recorded in the fishing logbook of the quantities in kilograms of fish retained on board will be 10% per species. But, “for mixed fisheries, small pelagic purse-seine vessels or species retained on board that do not exceed 100kg live weight equivalent, the permitted margin of tolerance shall be 20% per species. For tuna species, it shall be 25%”, according to the European Parliament.
The European Parliament also confirmed an amendment adopted in the European Parliament Committee on Fisheries to the effect that, when compared with quantities landed or inspection outcomes, the permitted tolerance in the estimates recorded in the transhipment declaration of the quantities in kilograms of fish retained on board will be 15% per species, as opposed to 10% in the Commission’s proposal (by 364 votes to 327, with 4 abstentions).
The European Parliament also included provision for derogations for transporting fisheries products (5 or 15%).
Traceability. The European Parliament position includes plans for a system for tracing the origin of fisheries and aquaculture products throughout the food supply chain, including processed and imported products. Data on the species of fish, the location, date and time the fish were caught and the type of gear used will need to be made available.
The definition of a ‘consignment’ is the one agreed in the Committee on Fisheries: a specific quantity of fisheries or aquaculture products of a given species with a common origin.
Logbook. The position of the Committee on Fisheries was endorsed. The electronic logbook (for recording catches) will be mandatory for all vessels. For vessels less than 12 metres long, there are plans for a “ standardised, simplified format”. The European Parliament approved an S&D and Greens/EFA amendment to improve the quality of data recorded in the fishing logbook when ‘sensitive’ species are caught.
Fishing gear. The European Parliament supports digital innovations that allow improved monitoring of the selectivity of fishing operations focused directly on fishing gear.
In order to reduce marine litter, Parliament agreed that all vessels should be required to inform national authorities when they lose fishing gear and to keep the necessary equipment on board to recover lost gear.
Geolocation. All ships should be equipped with a geolocation tool that allows them to be tracked and identified automatically, according to the European Parliament vote.
The European Parliament rejected an EPP amendment to exempt small vessels that operate exclusively in the territorial waters of their flag state from the requirement to be equipped with a tracking system.
The European Parliament also rejected an amendment by The Left stipulating that a Member State may conditionally exempt EU fishing vessels that are smaller than 15 metres and flying its flag from the requirement to be equipped with a vessel monitoring system.
Another amendment proposed by the group, which would have seen the electric fishing log applying only to vessels over 12 metres, was rejected.
According to the European Parliament position, operators will have four years after the rules come into force to equip vessels with the required new technologies.
The European Parliament is now ready to open negotiations with the Council of the EU, once it has adopted its position, in the course of the next few months. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)