EU fisheries ministers are preparing for tough negotiations from Sunday 11 to Tuesday 13 December on setting total allowable catches (TACs) and quotas for 2023 in the Atlantic, Channel, North Sea and Mediterranean.
Many of these TACs depend on the ongoing negotiations between the EU and the UK, but also between the EU and Norway and between the three actors (EU, UK and Norway).
The European Commission has provided for provisional TACs from January to March 2023 in case talks with the UK on jointly managed stocks fail, as it has done in the past.
The fisheries ministers have various demands, but the most contentious issues could be: eel fishing (the Commission proposes to close fishing for six consecutive months), the TAC of cod in the Kattegat (strong restrictions foreseen), various quotas of Norway lobster, pollack, sole, skate.
Other problems relate to flexibility, in the case of herring TACs, or inter-area flexibility for mackerel stocks.
Concerning eels, ten or so countries (France, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Poland, etc.) are contesting the six-month closure (compared to the current three months), which they consider too severe. Restocking actions (using glass eels to restock rivers) would no longer be possible due to this six-month moratorium, which is a problem for some countries.
The Commission remains firm for the time being on the six-month closure, while there is also the question of compensation for EU fishermen affected by the ban.
With regard to the 2023 and 2024 deep-sea TACs, the ministers are asking for an increase in the catch limits for red sea bream and roundnose grenadier.
With regard to fishing opportunities in the Mediterranean, the most contested elements include the reduction in trawl fishing effort in the western Mediterranean, as well as the ‘compensation mechanism’ for trawl fishing and the reduction in TACs for shrimp.
France, Spain and Italy believe that the reduction in fishing effort for trawlers in the western Mediterranean has already been significant since 2019 (-23.5%). The Commission wants to achieve a 40% reduction by 2025. According to these countries, 40% would be a maximum to be reached by 2025, not a legal obligation.
The Commission has published several non-papers to complete the proposals, notably on bluefin tuna quotas, of 21,500 tonnes for the EU in 2023 (https://aeur.eu/f/4l9 ), sea bass and southern hake in particular (https://aeur.eu/f/4la ) or anchovy in the Bay of Biscay and cod in the Kattegat (https://aeur.eu/f/4lb ). The negotiations could last until Tuesday morning.
Multiannual quotas. France, Spain and Portugal have suggested, in a document (https://aeur.eu/f/4l8 ) to be discussed in the EU Council on Monday, that certain TACs should be set on a multiannual basis: initially, this way of managing stocks could be tried out for non-shared stocks, which are not experiencing major exploitation difficulties, on a 3-year basis at least.
“This would be an important step to give predictability to fishermen and could also help to improve food sovereignty of the European Union”, they argue. These multiannual quotas should also, in their view, include a carry-over of any unused quota to allow for annual flexibility in the management of quotas. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)