Brussels, 20/12/2002 (Agence Europe) - After four days of very difficult discussions, the Fisheries Ministers of the EU Member States were at the point of adopting, during Friday evening, regulations on reform of Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) and the fixing of total allowable catches (TACs) and quotas for 2003, including measures for cod stock recovery and the recovery of related species. While the need to adopt measures to restrict the fishing effort in the context of cod stock protection measures had won the day, the "Amis de la Pêche" group (Spain, France, Ireland, Portugal, Greece and Italy) was on the point of gaining major concessions on continued State aid.
After examining, during the morning, a second compromise version of the Danish Presidency (in agreement with Commissioner Franz Fischler), the Council was to meet again around 19h00 (after further bilateral talks) in order to come to an agreement on the last two eminently political issues that divided them: the timetable for abolition of State aid to fleet renewal (including arrangements for financing such measures) and the extent of cod stock recovery measures. The "Amis de la Pêche" clan remained united in seeking to put off, as much as possible, the deadline for eliminating aid to fleet renewal. On the other hand, another camp composed of Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden and Denmark refused all further concessions compared to the second compromise on the table. The latter left Member States the possibility to subsidise the building of new vessels of under 400 gross tonnage until end December 2004 (the compromise on Monday provided for 100 tonnes and the Commission suggested doing away with aid from 1 January 2003). However, the financing of such aid would be subject, for each new fishing vessel, to the concomitant withdrawal from the fleet of a capacity one and a half times bigger in tonnage (entry/exit ratio 1: 5). Thus, for 10 new ships of 400 tonnes financed, 15 former vessels of equivalent capacity should be withdrawn. The "Amis de la Pêche" group sought to obtain continued subsidisation until end 2005 and to reduce the entry/exist ratio to between 1 and 1.5. An idea put forward by these countries consisted in granting differentiated treatment for small craft (going from 1/1 for the smallest boats to 1/1.5 for vessels of up to 400 tonnes). Furthermore, a battle was taking place between the United Kingdom and Germany on the subject of measures for reconstitution of cod stocks, the former recommending placing a maximum limit on the number of species and areas concerned, and the second being willing to have an ambitious plan adopted.
The elements of the reform package that were more or less the subject of agreement in Council are as follows: (1) aid to modernisation of vessels over five years of age (as opposed to ten in the previous compromise) will be authorised only for improving security on board, working conditions and product quality. The aid could lead to an increase in tonnage but this would mean that modernisation should only affect the tonnage on the main bridge and not entail larger catch capacity; (2) aid to exports of fishing vessels to third countries could enjoy cofunding of structural aid for fisheries (FIFG) until end 2004 but according to strict conditions: - the maximum amount of the premium could not exceed 30% of the demolition premium; - only exports to third countries with which the Community has signed a fishing agreement could benefit from FIFG support; - the transfer of vessels towards a joint company could also be financed, but the amount of aid could exceed 50% of the demolition premium; (3) several conditions for benefiting from aid for the scrapping of vessels should be abolished (as an obligation for Member state to have achieved the targets per segment and global targets of the fisheries guidance programme or MAGP IV, as well as the principle of "first come, first served". (4) regarding the framework regulation on the conservation and exploitation of stocks, little reference is made of the measures to limit the fishing effort in the context of stock recovery programmes.
Toward less TAC reduction for species subject to protection measures
According to the last Presidency compromise (likely to be amended during the evening), the TACs for cod and certain related species were reviewed upward compared to the initial Commission proposals, thanks to the adoption of temporary measures to restrict the fishing effort. Such temporary measures are to be replaced by a cod recovery plan that should be adopted in March then implemented in July. The recovery plan should concern cod and hake as well as related species. The Fifteen seemed to be in agreement on the following elements of this instrument: - these measures will apply from 1 February 2003 (as opposed to 1 January under the first compromise); - boats of less than 10 metres in length will not be concerned by these measures; - hake was taken off the provisions as a main species as was pollack (cod) which is an associated species; - Norway lobster and pout (for industrial fishing) were included in the measures; - the Irish Sea was excluded from waters covered, being the Skagerrak and Kattegat, the North Sea and the Channel and western Scotland; - the notion of days at sea should win over that of fishing day at the request of the United Kingdom, even if France and Belgium hoped that the time spent in the zone would be taken into account; - and certain flexibility was introduced to manage days at sea (carried over from one month to the next, transfer from one boat to another of the national fleet).
By way of indication, the most controversial TACs were at the levels of: cod: 6,700 tonnes to the west and south-east of Ireland, in the Channel, to the south of Brittany and in the Biscay Bay as well as off Portugal (-23% compared to 2002 when the Commission initially proposed a reduction of 4%), 1,808 tonnes to the west of Scotland, in the Irish Sea, the Channel, to the north of the Azores and to the south-east of Greenland (i.e. -60% compared to 2002 when the Commission proposed a 79% reduction), 1,950 tonnes in the Irish Sea (-38% compared to 2002 when the Commission proposed a reduction of 63%).
Hake: 15,140 tons in the west of Scotland, in the Irish Sea and the Cannel, in the northern Azores and in Greenland (a bit more than in 2002, whereas the Commission proposed a reduction of 35%); 10,098 tons in the south of Brittany and in the Bay of Biscay; haddock: 8,675 tons to the west of Scotland and the northern Azores (-38% compared to 2002, whereas the Commission proposed reducing the TAC by 49%); 8,185 tons in the Irish Sea, in the south of brittany and in the Bay of iscay, in Portuguese waters (reduction of 12% compared to 2002); whiting: 31,700 tons to the west of Ireland and in the Channel (continuation of the TAC for 2002, whereas the Commission proposed a 36% reduction; megrim: 14,336 tons in the Irish Sea and in the Cahnnel (986 tons more than in 2002, whereas the Commission proposed a 10% reduction, 1,664 tons in the south of Brittany and in the Bay of Biscay; sole: 15,850 tons in the North Sea (same level as in 2002), 3,400 tons in the south of Brittany and in the Bay of Biscay (reduction of 15% compared to 2002, as opposed to -50% in the initial proposals); lobster: 4,500 tons in the Skagerrak and Kattegat zones and the Baltic sea, renewing the 2002 TAC, 3,000 tons in the south of Brittany and in the Bay of Biscay (reduction of a little more than 6% whereas the Commission proposed a 31% reduction); scad: 130,000 tons to the west of Scotland, the Irish Sea and the Channel, to the south of Brittany, the Bay of Biscay, the northern Azores and in Greenland (-13.3% as opposed by the 38% reduction proposed initially); herring: 13,000 tones to the south-east of Ireland and in Sole (renewal of the TAC for 2002, whereas the Commission initially proposed a 40% reduction to 7,800 tons); mackerel: 35,000 tons to the north and north west of Spain (as opposed to the 41,100 tons in 2002); anchovies: 33,000 tons to the south of Brittany and in the Bay of Biscay (renewal to that of 2002, as opposed to a 40% reduction initially proposed) and 8,000 tons on the coasts and east of Portugal (like in 2002, as opposed to -40% initially proposed; sprats: 112,468 tons in the Baltic Sea (as opposed to 149,860 in 2002, -25%); dab and flounder: 23,001 tons in the Norwegian Sea and North Sea; burbot: 7,000 tons in the Norwegian Sea and North Sea (-33%, the Commission had proposed a 40% reduction to 6,300 tons; dab, sole and grey plaice: 8,262 tons in the Norwegian Sean and North Sea.