Brussels, 12/06/2002 (Agence Europe) - During Tuesday's Fisheries Council in Luxembourg, the ministers responsible for this sector reached agreement on the fixing, in 2003 and 2004, of total allowable catches (TAC) and quotas for certain species of deep water fish (black scabbardfish, tusk, roundnose grenadier, blue ling and ling …). The Fifteen held a policy debate on the proposal establishing plans for recovery of cod and hake stocks and also adopted conclusions on illegal fishing, a theme that will be discussed when work continues on the reform package of Common Fisheries Policy (CFP).
* Deep water stocks: The Council reached an agreement by qualified majority on the proposal concerning TAC and quotas as well as general guidelines, pending the opinion of the European Parliament, on another proposal establishing a licensing system to authorise fishing of these species. Ministers rallied to a Presidency compromise text on the whole of the package that will be approved this autumn, since the EP is expected to give its opinion in September. The two proposals will be implemented as of 1 January 2003. We would point out that this is the first time the Council undertakes to restrict and reduce the fishing of such species over and beyond the main fishing areas of the continental plateau - which are particularly vulnerable to over-fishing because of the slow growth of these species.
Regarding the proposal on TAC, only the British and Portuguese delegations did not rally to the compromise text. The United Kingdom repeated it was not satisfied with the reference years proposed and restated its opposition to establishing quotas. Portugal would have liked a 400-tonne increase in its fishing possibilities for red seabream but this was not granted. At the last moment, Ireland agreed to the price proposal resulting from successful bargaining with Spain. The latter agreed to concede 300 tonnes of ling to Ireland in the Irish Sea. The main points of the compromise are as follows: - TAC and quotas are established for 2003 and 2004 (with an annual review clause) on the basis of revised statistical data, and no longer for 2002 (according to the initial proposal); - the reduction of fishing effort is limited to 30% instead of the 50% initially foreseen; - three of the eleven species have been taken off the lists of species under TAC (deep water sharks, alfonsinos and trifurcated hake); - the quotas of black scabbardfish (French and Portuguese delegations), roundnose grenadier (Danish delegation), red seabream (Spanish delegation), orange roughy (Irish delegation) and ling (UK delegation) were increased in certain fishing areas; - TAC are fixed in Community waters and in international waters in so far as scientific opinions indicate the need to reduce catches (a declaration of the Council and Commission provides for the Commission to request a scientific opinion by 2003 at the latest); - a general quota ("pool") for by-catches is established instead of the 10-tonne quotas for each country in a given zone. The main TAC and quotas are:
- Black scabbardfish: 3110 tonnes (as opposed to 1047 in the initial proposal), including 2600 for France (zones of Iceland, Irish Sea, off western Scotland and east of Greenland) and 4000 tonnes for Portugal off its coasts and in the Azores.
- Argentine: 6247 tonnes as in the initial proposal (4971 for the Netherlands) in Iceland, in the Irish Sea, in the Channel and to the west of Scotland; 1566 tonnes (including 1388 for Denmark) in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea.
- Tusk: 370 tonnes (including 150 for the United Kingdom, 100 for Denmark and 70 for France) in the North Sea, 710 tonnes (as opposed to 596 initially), mainly for France (415 tonnes) and the United Kingdom (200 tonnes) in Iceland, to the west of Scotland, in the Irish Sea and in the Channel.
- Roundnose grenadier: 1870 tonnes (1769 for Denmark, that is, over 700 tonnes more than in the proposal, 91 tonnes for Sweden and 10 tonnes for Germany) in the Skagerrak and Kattegat area and 5106 tonnes in the Faro Island zones, to the west of Scotland and off Ireland (as opposed to the initial 3953 proposed, which mainly benefits France, with 4396 tonnes, and Ireland, which obtains 346 tonnes when it had nothing before).
- Orange roughy: Out of a total of 1349 tonnes in the Irish Sea and in the English Channel, Ireland obtained 300 tonnes up from zero, the remainder being essentially allocated to France (1019 tonnes).
- Blue ling: 3678 tonnes (compared to 3536 tonnes initially) off Scotland and the Irish Sea and in the Channel, including 2788 tonnes for France, 709 for the United Kingdom, 122 for Spain and 10 for Ireland.
- Ling: 14 966 tonnes in the Bay of Biscay, southern Brittany, off Scotland and Ireland (506 tonnes for the United Kingdom, 1102 for Ireland, 4397 for France and 4424 for Spain) and 4666 tonnes in the North Sea, including 3590 for the United Kingdom, 467 for Denmark, 260 for France and 289 for Germany ;
- Red seabream: Essentially for Spain (mainly 1000 tonnes off Portugal) and Portugal (1136 tonnes in the Azores zone).
On the subject of proposing licenses, the compromise provides "licenses" for 46 species, instead of 21 according to the Commission 's initial proposal. It is foreseen that ling should be excluded, as well as tusk and red seabream, from the species subject to licensing. Should the satellite control system of fishing vessels not function properly, the boats should forward a report on their geographical situation to coastal Member States every two hours. A general review clause is provided to authorise the Commission to present reform proposals, if necessary, (in the meantime, scientific information will be gathered in order to determine the future evolution of TAC, including for non-industrial fishing).
* Hake and cod stocks: The Council held a policy debate on the measures proposed aimed at reconstituting the stocks of these species which are threatened with collapse, on the basis of a Presidency questionnaire. Several Member States (especially Ireland, France and Spain) challenged the scientific date accepted by the Commission for fixing levels of increased quantities of fish that have reached maturity (which gives an indication of the biomass of overlapping stocks) and for determining the rate of mortality of fish. Furthermore, most delegations refuse to accept these proposals as they say they are linked to reform of CFP. The Council entrusted the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the Member States with the EU (Coreper) to actively pursue the analysis of this proposal of regulation. The Council gave its views on the following aspects of the proposal: - the maintaining of stable TAC (the countries felt the TAC must be fixed at a level allowing an annual increase of 30% in stocks of cod and 15% for hake stocks); - the system for limiting the fishing effort based on the number of days at sea per year for a given fishing boat (several delegations pointed out they would like to have simplified procedures).
* Illegal fishing: The Council adopted conclusions on illegal, undeclared and non-regulated fishing. In the conclusions it invites the Commission to conduct, on behalf of the Community and in the context of regional fisheries organisations, the fight against this kind of fishing and to introduce appropriate, effective measures that are conform to international law, and in particular: - the development of registers of authorised vessels; - the establishment of States/entities lists which do not cooperate with the regional fisheries organisations (RFO); - the establishment of documents on catches and statistics for all species that require this. Furthermore, ministers recognise the great value of the international action plan aimed at preventing, countering and eliminating illegal, undeclared and non-regulated fishing, adopted in 2001 by the FAO. They welcome the Commission's communication (presented in the context of CFP reform) relating to a Community action plan aimed at eliminating this kind of practice. As an international conference on the fight against illegal fishing will be held in Saint-Jacques-de Compostelle in Spain, on 25 and 26 November, the Council invites the Commission to take into consideration the conclusions of this conference in order to prepare the Community's position with a view to the FAO meeting in 2003 on this subject.
* State of cod stocks in the Baltic Sea: Under "miscellaneous", the Swedish delegation informed the Council of the state of cod stocks in the Baltic Sea. Supported by the Danish delegation, it insisted that the scientific opinion recently presented by the ICES (International Council for the Exploration of the Sea) notes an extremely alarming situation for cod in the Baltic Sea, mainly concerning the eastern part of the stock. Sweden stressed the need to set plans for stock recovery in place and pointed out that it had taken such measures at national level (introduction of large mesh nets, selective trawlers and regulated fishing periods in order to protect the juveniles). Commissioner Franz Fischler pointed out that he shared the analysis and concern of Denmark and Sweden and said that, during the next meeting of the Fisheries Commission for the Baltic Sea, scheduled for September, the European Commission would discuss the following: - reduction of cod by-catches when fishing flat fish; - minimum size of cod catches; - and changes to the size of net mesh and to the fishing zones where cod fishing is authorised.
Furthermore, still under "miscellaneous", the Presidency informed the Council of the results of the informal meeting of directors general for fisheries (Lanzarote, 9/10/11 May), saying that it had noted that debate on CFP reform must mainly be based on structural actions, that a majority of delegations is in favour of replacing Multi-Annual Guidance Programmes (MAGP) and that there is still divergence regarding the use of public aid (smaller fleet sizes or fleet modernisation). The Presidency also presented the results of the work by the seminar on the control and implementation of CFP, held in Madrid on 21 and 22 May this year, noted by the Council. The Danish delegation informed the Council of the dates of the next three sessions of the Fisheries Council under Danish Presidency (14 October in Luxembourg, 18 November in Brussels and 16 and 17 December in Brussels).