On Wednesday 24 May, the European Parliament’s Committee on Fisheries rejected (24 votes in favour of rejection, three against and no abstentions) a European Commission proposal for managing fishery resources in the Indian Ocean, adopting the report by João Pimenta Lopes (The Left, Portuguese).
The objective of this proposal is to implement in EU law the conservation, management and control measures adopted under the Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement (SIOFA). SIOFA is the regional fisheries management organisation responsible for the management of fisheries resources in the Southern Indian Ocean Zone.
The Commission’s proposal introduces ‘dynamic references’ into EU law as an instrument for the rapid implementation of SIOFA rules. However, MEPs disagree with the Commission’s choice of transposition instrument.
MEPs also stress that the new rules will have to be applied by fishing communities and should be easy to understand and available in all EU languages. The new rules should also avoid introducing additional conservation and management requirements to the SIOFA measures. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)