Following 3 days of discussions, the European Union’s fisheries ministers reached, on Tuesday 12 December, a political agreement by qualified majority on fishing opportunities in 2024 in the waters of the Atlantic (including the Channel and the North Sea) and the Mediterranean.
Italy has indicated that it will vote against the two regulations on Total Allowable Catches (TACs) for 2024, while Greece will abstain on the text on catches in the Mediterranean.
However, the European Commission has accepted concessions on the fishing effort arrangements for trawlers in the western Mediterranean.
The European Commissioner for Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevičius, stressed the importance of reaching an agreement that is both balanced and responsible. With regard to Atlantic waters, he said that the EU Council had followed the Commission’s approach by setting 14 TACs in line with the advice on maximum sustainable yield, with increases in catches for megrim, monkfish, hake and horse mackerel in Iberian waters.
The EU Council also followed the Commission’s proposals to set a low TAC for Norway lobster in the Skagerrak and Kattegat and for plaice in the Kattegat in order to protect cod stocks.
In the Bay of Biscay, the ministers agreed on TAC reductions for pollack, Norway lobster, sole, sea bass and whiting, according to Virginijus Sinkevičius. In addition, measures have been introduced to regulate the recreational fishing of pollack.
Mediterranean. “In the western Mediterranean, scientific advice has once again confirmed the need to continue implementing combined actions in order to meet the legal obligations in terms of sustainable fisheries to achieve MSY by1 January 2025”, said the European Commissioner.
The ministers therefore agreed to continue the reduction in fishing effort (days spent at sea) for trawlers (-9.5% in 2024), in combination with other management tools such as a further reduction in catch limits for deepwater shrimp and a continued freeze on fishing effort for longliners.
In addition, the agreement extends the ‘compensation mechanism’ introduced in 2022, granting between 4.5 (initial proposal) and 6% additional fishing days to trawlers, depending on the number of additional conservation measures that Member States apply.
The EU Council also decided to reduce the TACs for blue shrimp and red shrimp in sub-areas 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7 by 5% in 2024, for blue shrimp and red shrimp in sub-areas 8, 9, 10 and 11 by 3%, and for giant red shrimp in the western Mediterranean in sub-areas 8, 9, 10 and 11 by 3%, compared with 2023.
With regard to eel stocks in Atlantic waters, the EU Council accepted the clarification proposed by the European Commission that the closed period (of 6 months) should cover the peak of migration in EU marine waters.
The Spanish Presidency has presented two compromise texts with a view to bringing the EU Council to a political agreement, the latest of which has been obtained by EUROPE (https://aeur.eu/f/a3h ).
Luis Planas, the current President of the EU Council, hailed this “magnificent result”, which will benefit the fleets of Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, the Basque Country and Andalusia.
Spain obtained an increase in the megrim (11.4%), anglerfish (7.2%) and southern horse mackerel (5.3%) quotas, and the maintenance of the anchovy TAC of 33,000 tonnes in the Bay of Biscay.
Multiannual stocks have also been agreed for the first time for a total of nine fisheries - such as plaice, whiting, pollack, Norway lobster and sole - two of which will last until 2026, which Mr Planas said was “a very important step forward”. France rather satisfied with the compromise. In a telephone interview with the press, Hervé Berville, France’s Secretary of State for the Sea, said that the decisions on eel took account of the state of the stock and allowed for restocking operations (50 days in EU countries). In the case of professional sea bass fishing, the reduction in catches is 20%, while in the case of recreational fishing, a maximum of one specimen of European sea bass may be caught and kept per fisherman per day. In the Bay of Biscay, France has secured a provisional 6-month TAC for pollack. There is a limit of 2 pollack per day per fisherman for recreational fishing. Mr Berville claimed that French fishermen in the Mediterranean were doing rather well, having received additional fishing days (up to 6%) as part of a 9.5% reduction in fishing effort for trawlers. France said that it has not obtained complete satisfaction regarding the reduction in sea bass catches and the merging of areas that has been decided, which could call into question “relative stability” (distribution of quotas according to historical rights).
Link to the TAC table: https://aeur.eu/f/a3f (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)