Brussels, 28/06/2004 (Agence Europe) - The Council of Ministers of the Member States of the EU adopted without debate on Monday the regulation modifying various provisions of the fourth protocol to the fishing agreement signed between the Community on the one hand, and Denmark and the local Greenland government on the other. New fishing possibilities for Community fishermen will cover the period from 1 January 2004 to 31 December 2006 (see EUROPE of 28 June 2003 for the details). EU funding will rise to 31.76 million EUR in exchange for fishing possibilities, plus 11.05 million EUR to pay for structural measures to strengthen the local economy.
The new rules will help to get rid of "fish on paper" (species for which the fishing possibilities have not been fully exploited), by authorising the transfer of quota between Member States. An increase in fishing possibilities of halibut (Atlantic and Greenland) and prawns has also been provided, as has the possibility for Community boats to fish provisionally (experimentally) for deep-sea species, cephalopods, cockles and caplin. If this experiment works, Community boats will be entitled to 50% of fishing possibilities for these new species, until the end of the fourth protocol. The Community boats in question come from Germany, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Spain and Portugal.