The European Commission, in a plenary debate on Monday 17 May, refused to accede to MEPs’ request to adjust the current rules on the end of discarding fish at sea.
The European Parliament debated the report by Søren Gade (Renew Europe, Denmark) on achieving the objectives of the landing obligation under the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) (https://bit.ly/33QaJ7y ).
“With regard to your demand for legislative changes, I have to say that there are no plans to launch a reform of the Common Fisheries Policy”, replied Commissioner Nicolas Schmit on behalf of the Commission. He noted “positive” results in the current system and believes that “we must provide some stability to the way we manage fisheries in Europe”.
He confirmed that the Commission will present, by 31 December 2022, a report “on the functioning of the Common Fisheries Policy”. The landing obligation will be taken into account in this report, “as it is the cornerstone of our policy for achieving sustainable fisheries”, he said.
Mr Gade’s report calls on the Commission to present, where appropriate, “a legislative proposal to enable the reduction targets to be better achieved”. The Commission is invited to assess “the feasibility of adapting the landing obligation on a case-by-case basis by fishery and/or by stock”. MEPs also call on the Commission to assess the extent to which the reduction in discards under the landing obligation has been achieved and “whether it has contributed to improving the state of stocks and reducing the impact on the marine ecosystem”.
Nicolas Schmit acknowledged that, “unfortunately, there is still little or no data on whether overall discard rates are reducing”. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)