The implementation of the multiannual plans for the North Sea and Western Waters has helped to reduce fishing pressure, according to the European Commission in a report published on Monday 30 September on the regulations governing these plans.
Certain decisions concerning stocks for which the EU Council had to reduce total allowable catches (TACs) and take additional corrective measures were made possible thanks to the framework put in place by the multiannual plans combining a safety net and flexibilities, according to the report. In the absence of multiannual plans, “it may have been difficult for the Council to agree on remedial measures to recover weak stocks, and TACs would most likely have been set at a higher level”, the Commission points out. The plans have ensured that today, all fisheries are managed either in line with maximum sustainable yield (MSY) or that remedial measures are put in place to bring them back to MSY. Multiannual plans are a stable, long-term instrument for implementing the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP).
To see the report: https://aeur.eu/f/dnq (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)