Brussels, 04/01/2006 (Agence Europe) - On 23 December 2005, the European Commission adopted a report on the steps taken by member States in 2004 to reach a better balance between capacity and fishing possibilities. The report demonstrates that the measures taken to re-build cod stocks (reduction in the number of days at sea) in operation since 2003 have greatly contributed to the reduction in fishing effort and that only two Member States, Greece and Slovenia, did not reach their targets in reducing fishing capacity in 2004.
The United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark, France, the Netherlands and Belgium stated that, in 2004, they were directly affected by the measures to reduce fishing effort as a result of the plan to re-build cod stocks (Kattegat, Skagerrak, North Sea, West of Scotland, eastern English Channel and Irish Sea). The Commission report shows that: - the capacity of the Danish fleet was reduced by around 5000 gross tonnes (GT) thanks to public aid in the destruction of boats (this represents a 5% reduction in the country's overall tonnage); - the British fleet dropped by 16,000 GT; - the capacity of France's continental fleet was reduced by 6%, or 12,000 GT (the laying-up procedure concerned principally trawlers targeting pelagic and demersal species in the North Sea, the English Channel and the Atlantic zone); - the capacity removed through public aid was 2% of the tonnage in Latvia and 1.8% in Poland, largely as a result of the poor state of cod stocks in the Baltic. In the Mediterranean, capacity has been significantly reduced by Italy, Greece and Spain, but this can not be attributed to effort reduction measures adopted at Community level.
According to the Community fleet register quoted in the report, the overall capacity of the Community fleet of the member States of the EU of 15 was reduced by 66,500 GT and 322,000 GT in 2003 and 2004 respectively, representing a net reduction of 3.6% of total tonnage and 4.7% of the engine capacity of the fleet. In 2003 and 2004, approximately 79,000 GT were removed from the EU 15 fleet with the help of public aid, meaning that this capacity cannot be replaced. Capacity removed through public aid is greater than the net reduction in capacity, given that transition measures allow boats not subject to the entry-exit scheme to join the fleet, explained the Commission. From 1st January 2003 to 31 December 2004, the Member States of the EU of 15 who showed the greatest reduction in fleet capacity were Denmark (-8.16%), Ireland (-7.37%), Greece (-7.10%), France (-6.18%), Spain (-6.15%) and Finland (-5.65%). In terms of tonnage, the greatest reductions were in Finland (-8.37%), the United Kingdom (-7.51%), Denmark (-6.72%) and Greece (-6.23%).
Among new Member States (from 1st May 2004) fleet capacity has been reduced by 7000 GT and 18,800kW, representing a reduction of 3.1% of total tonnage and 3.3% of the engine capacity of the fleet of these countries. The largest reductions in capacity are in Malta (-5.41%), Latvia (-4.35%) and Lithuania (-3.36%). Estonia (-6.34%) and Latvia (-5.21%) have shown the largest reductions in tonnage.
The report indicates that only Greece and Slovenia have not met the requirements of the entry-exit scheme on the engine capacity of boats. The Greek authorities challenge the Commission's assessment and claim that a misunderstanding has arisen following the submission of incorrect data on removals financed by public aid. The capacity of the French continental fleet has slightly exceeded the ceiling set on tonnage during the two year period assessed in this report, though it was in compliance on 31 December 2004.