EU Fisheries Ministers are expected to reach a political agreement on Monday 22 March on a decision to extend until the end of July the provisional 2021 Total Allowable Catches (TACs) for stocks that are jointly managed between the EU and the UK.
In December 2020, pending a compromise on the Trade and Cooperation Agreement with the UK, EU ministers decided to put in place provisional TACs covering the period from January to the end of March for fish stocks that are shared with the UK (this pertains to around 100 stocks).
Ongoing consultations. The European Commission is currently consulting with the UK on behalf of the EU in order to determine the final volumes of these catches for the whole of 2021 (see EUROPE 12680/10, 12681/8).
The EU Council gave a warrant to the Commission to negotiate these final quotas.
With little time left before the deadline at the end of March, the Commission, by way of a precautionary measure (‘contingency plan’), has proposed extending the current TAC levels for another 4 months.
The ministers, who will meet on Monday and Tuesday, are therefore called upon to agree on this ‘contingency plan’ in order to avoid fisheries activities being interrupted if no agreement is reached by the end of March on these TACs. “It is unlikely that an agreement will be reached with the UK on Monday”, said an EU diplomatic source.
The European Commission is hoping for a quick agreement on the final quotas for 2021.
In the event of this happening quickly next week, these contingency measures will therefore not be necessary, but if necessary, they will be ready to put in place.
In addition, on Tuesday 16 March, the EU, Norway and the UK reached agreements on the management of certain TACs and quotas for 2021 in North Sea waters (see EUROPE 12679/8). This is positive news in the context of the current consultations, given that such arrangements are difficult to finalise. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)