Negotiators from the European Parliament and the EU Council reached agreement on Thursday 29 September on a compromise text to extend restrictions on access to EU fisheries waters for another 10 years.
Member States will be able to restrict the access of other EU vessels to their territorial waters and fisheries resources within a zone extending up to 12 nautical miles. The EU’s outermost regions will be able to extend this derogation to 100 nautical miles.
The existing rules were due to expire in December 2022.
According to the agreement, the Commission will prepare a report on the application of these access rules in June 2031, before they expire in 2032.
The provisional agreement provides further clarification on the access of Italian vessels to the 6-12 nautical mile zone of Greek territorial waters in the Ionian Sea and the Greek Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), and maintains the existing conditionalities regarding reciprocal access of the Croatian and Slovenian fleets to their respective waters.
Demersal seines. The Council of the EU rejected an amendment by Carole Roose MEP (Greens/EFA, French) to ban the use of demersal seines near the French coast (Hauts-de-France and Normandy). For the NGO Bloom, “France has stubbornly defended a devastating fishing technique, the demersal seine, against the unanimous demand of French fishers, citizens and 143 MEPs” (see EUROPE 12991/22).
Parliament and the Commission call on EU governments to make recommendations on demersal seines before any Commission action is taken.
Parliament and the EU Council will have to approve the compromise text before it is published in the EU’s Official Journal. It shall enter into force on the seventh day after its publication. The rules will then apply in all Member States from 1 January 2023. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)