On Tuesday 23 March, the EU’s fisheries ministers reached a political agreement on a draft regulation to extend provisional 2021 Total Allowable Catches (TACs) for stocks jointly managed by the EU and the UK until the end of July (see EUROPE 12683/10, 12682/4).
The provisional quotas from January to the end of March are equivalent to 25% of 2020 TAC volumes. The new catch volumes from January to the end of July represent “58.3% of the annual catch levels recommended by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) for 2021”, according to the agreement, which EUROPE has seen.
These quotas are an ‘emergency plan’ “to allow European fishing fleets to continue their activities”, said Ricardo Serrão Santos, the Portuguese Minister for Maritime Affairs, who is chairing the Fisheries Council for six months.
Plan B. “The Council has agreed on a plan B regarding fishing opportunities for stocks shared with the UK”, said Commissioner for Fisheries Virginijus Sinkevičius.
“The agreement foresees provisional TACs until 31 July, generally at the corresponding level of seven-twelfths of the EU’s share of the 2021 scientific advice”, he said.
This agreement “gives us time to conclude the ongoing negotiations with the UK and ensures that our fishermen and women can continue their operations after the expiry of the current provisional TACs, next week on 31 March”, the Commissioner stated.
He said he hoped the agreement would have a very short shelf life and “that we can soon replace it with definitive TACs, once we have concluded the consultations with the UK”.
Significant progress. Last week, consultations between the EU and the UK made significant progress, stated Sinkevičius.
He said he was “optimistic that we will be able to implement it speedily in the form of definitive TACs”. The Commissioner even hopes that the EU/UK negotiations will be concluded “in the coming days”.
The provisional measures are in line with the EU/UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement and with scientific advice “to ensure the long-term sustainability of species”.
These provisional measures involve a range of stocks (cod, herring, haddock, monkfish, whiting, blue whiting, pollack, and mackerel).
Bluefin tuna. The Trade and Cooperation Agreement includes provision for granting the UK 0.25% of the EU’s bluefin tuna TAC, i.e. 48.4 tonnes (t).
The EU’s total bluefin tuna TAC now stands at 19,311.6 t (19,360 t excluding the amount transferred to the UK), including: 6093.28 t for Spain (6107.6 t previously), 6012.47 t for France (6026.6 t), 4745.34 t for Italy (4756.49 t), 950.30 t for Croatia (952.53 t), 572.97 t for Portugal (574.31 t), 389.32 t for Malta (390.24 t), 314.03 t for Greece (314.77 t), and 168.95 t for Cyprus (169.35 t previously). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)