Brussels, 20/09/2005 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday, France strongly protested against the European Commission's announced intention to maintain the ban on anchovy fishing in the Bay of Biscay until the end of the year (EUROPE 9026). The emergency measure, intended to protect a stock that does not replenish itself, will be reviewed end December when Total Allowable Catches (TACs) and quotas are adopted for 2006. France and Spain have confirmed they will be conducting a joint programme of scientific analysis on the state of resources.
France's Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, Dominique Bussereau, has said that the fisheries, like the French authorities, learnt of the Commission's intention to prolong closure of anchovy fishing from radio reports. “This method is truly unfortunate as it makes little of whole families and companies”, he said, stressing that this “gives a disastrous image of our Common Fisheries Policy”. He challenged the opinion of the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF/CSTEP), which itself recognises that it has no reliable data. He recalled the alternative measures defended by Paris: - the creation of protection zones for spawning and juveniles and the fixing of rules on the size of anchovies. According to Mr Bussereau, the total and generalised ban recommended by scientists ”does not take into account the political and economic realities that the Commission should also consider”. Furthermore, he called on the Commission to recommend to the fisheries management committee a measure to restrict the “collateral damage” done on the tuna market (French anchovy fisheries have turned to tuna fishing). Such a measure would consist of raising the percentage (currently 18%) of storage costs paid by the European budget, as over 40% of offloaded quantities are today placed in storage. Bussereau's Spanish counterpart, Elena Espinosa, welcomed the agreement on 15 September between herself and Mr Bussereau in the aim of conducting joint scientific studies on the state of anchovy stocks. She admitted that, whereas France and Spain have the same interest in the rapid reopening of this fishing activity, “one must take into account the fact that scientific opinions have shown that anchovy stocks are in a difficult situation”. In this context, the minister stressed the need to remain very cautious about the next management measures to be taken. The European Fisheries Commissioner, Joe Borg, defended the validity of the opinion given by STECF (which advises the Commission) and voiced objection to solutions other than closure of fishing activity.