Susan Steele, the next new Executive Director of the European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA), said on Tuesday 25 May that her aim was to increase the number of inspection vessels at the agency, based in Vigo, Spain, to two and then three.
At a hearing before the European Parliament’s Committee on Fisheries, Ms Steele, who will take up her post on 1 September 2021, stressed the need to step up training for EU inspectors (common curriculum, e-learning platform). “These ‘level playing fields’ are important”, she added, responding to Søren Gade (Renew Europe, Denmark).
Susan Steele said that the Agency had only one vessel to carry out control operations. The Agency’s budget “would allow us to have one extra ship“, she said. “The aim is to charter three ships and thus have a ship on site in each of the three sea basins”, she added.
She considered that new technologies, such as cameras on board ships (to monitor the end of discards at sea), are one of the possibilities available. “It does not replace human inspection, but it is an important tool in the toolbox we have”, she replied to Grace O’Sullivan (Greens/EFA, Ireland).
The future director acknowledged that controlling the adjacent waters between the EU and the UK and the vessels operating in them will be a complex challenge. “European fishermen and British fishermen fish in the same waters, so we have a shared interest in controlling fisheries. Our agency will have a clear role to play”, she concluded.
Clara Aguilera (S&D, Spain), rapporteur on controls, said that the EU Council should adopt its position on the issue in June. The ‘trilogues’ on control reform could thus start in September 2021 (see EUROPE 12677/9). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)