Control and enforcement of the rules on compulsory landings remain difficult and there is no evidence of change in fish discarding practices, according to a study published on Friday 27 August by the European Commission.
This study, which is a ‘synthesis of landing obligation measures and discard rates’, concludes that “control and enforcement of the landing obligation remains challenging, that Member States have not adopted the necessary control measures, and that significant undocumented discarding of catches occurs”.
The authors of the study also point out that remote electronic monitoring (REM) tools are the most efficient and cost-effective means, although some stakeholders have raised issues such as privacy and costs. REM has been tested by several Member States, but has not been widely deployed.
In its proposal for the revision of the fisheries control system, currently being negotiated between the EU Council and the European Parliament (see EUROPE 12750/5), the European Commission supports the use of these modern control tools.
On the other hand, the study highlights the important shortcomings of traditional control tools (at-sea and dockside inspections, logbooks), as they only provide a snapshot of compliance at the time of control.
Furthermore, according to the study, discard rates do not yet show clear trends or patterns as a result of the rules on landing obligations. There is no evidence of a change in discarding practices, and discarding is still taking place, according to this study.
Stakeholders who contributed to the study identified a number of possible explanations, including the complexity of the legislation and the changes to be made on board ships. The study provides suggestions on how to mitigate these difficulties by improving logbooks and training.
The European Commission has recently adopted a series of draft delegated regulations on derogations from the landing obligation: - a discard plan for turbot fisheries in the Black Sea; - arrangements for the implementation of the landing obligation in certain fisheries in western waters for the 2021-2023 period; - a de minimis exemption from the landing obligation for certain demersal fisheries in the Adriatic Sea and the South East Mediterranean; - modalities for the implementation of the landing obligation for certain demersal stocks in the Western Mediterranean for the 2022-2024 period; - technical measures applicable to certain demersal and pelagic fisheries in the Celtic Sea, Irish Sea, and west of Scotland; - implementation of the landing obligation for certain fisheries in the North Sea for the 2021-2023 period.
See the study: https://bit.ly/3ktSXiv (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)