Draft conclusions to be debated by the Council of European Fisheries Ministers on 26 June emphasise that the use of gear such as mobile bottom fishing in marine protected areas (GPAs) should respect the best available scientific data and the conservation objectives of each GPA.
These draft conclusions, which relate to the European Commission's 'sustainable fisheries' package, stress the need to take account of the real environmental impact of different fishing gears and methods on different habitats and species, depending on the specific conservation objectives of each GPA (see EUROPE 13168/17 on an earlier draft of the conclusions).
Above all, the draft text states that a general ban on bottom-contacting mobile gear in GPAs by 2030 “would contradict the Commission's current guidelines for MPA designation”. Sustainable fisheries “may be compatible with the existence of MPAs depending on the conservation objectives specific to each of them”, the text states. The Marine Action Plan presented by the Commission had been criticised by several EU countries, as it provides for a ban on bottom gears in marine protected areas by 2030.
On the sidelines of the informal Agriculture Council meeting in Sweden, Spain's Fisheries Minister Luis Planas told EUROPE on 11 June that the Commission “cannot deceive us. We cannot ask Member States to make efforts without a sufficient legal basis. International agreements must be translated into legislative acts, not on the basis of an action plan”.
The Swedish Presidency of the Council of the EU hopes to bring the Fisheries Ministers to an agreement on the content of these conclusions, which analyse the Commission's four documents (see EUROPE 13126/1).
Link to the draft conclusions: https://aeur.eu/f/7l0 (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)