The European Commission has taken an important step towards simplifying catch declarations for the unsorted pelagic fisheries sector. On Thursday 15 May, the Commission adopted a regulation (https://aeur.eu/f/gw0 ) providing an initial list of landing ports to enable operators in these ports to benefit from a margin of tolerance derogation, provided that strict control conditions are respected in these ports.
The margin of tolerance represents the maximum authorised difference between the catch estimates made by the captains of fishing vessels and the actual weight of the fish caught. The derogation allows operators to benefit from a more flexible approach to catch reporting in logbooks when landing in listed ports.
The listed ports (six in Denmark and one in Latvia, at this stage) must demonstrate that they comply with strict control and monitoring criteria, to ensure reliable recording and weighing of catches. The list of eligible ports may be revised and extended by the Commission in response to requests from Member States. The Commission may also delist ports that fail to maintain the required standards.
Under Article 14 of Regulation 2024/1474 (the Control Regulation), the margin of tolerance derogation allows certain ports to apply a more flexible approach to declaring catches in logbooks. This derogation applies to landings of unsorted small pelagic species and unsorted tropical tuna species. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)