Brussels, 11/06/2007 (Agence Europe) - In Luxembourg on Monday 11 June, EU fisheries ministers adopted the regulation to restrict eel fishing and rebuild declining stocks (see EUROPE 9438 on Coreper compromise). The measures apply to all Community waters, including inland waters, except, for the moment, the Black Sea. Talks, which failed in April and May, finally reached a successful conclusion thanks to a compromise which means that a large part of the glass eels caught will be compulsorily resold in the EU to restock inland waters.
Restocking: glass eel producers (mainly French and Spanish) will have to reserve between 35% (in 2009) and 60% (by 2013) of their catches for use in restocking eel river basins. To protect the earnings of glass eel fishers, a safeguard clause has been inserted which will allow the percentage for restocking to be reduced in the event of a sharp fall (of at least 20%, according to the Commission) in glass eel prices on the European market. For restocking operations, northern European countries (the United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands), will buy elvers from French producers. Prices on the European market, however, are lower than those of the world (Asian) market. Fishers currently receive around €300 per kilogramme of glass eels. By the time the product reaches its final destination, China, for example, the price can be as high as €1000 per kilo.
Management plans: member states will, by 31 December 2008, have to submit, to the Commission, an eel management plan (by eel river basin) which may contain, but not be limited to, the following measures: - reducing commercial fishing activity; - restricting recreational fishing; - restocking measures; - improving river habitats; - transportation of (adult) silver eels from inland waters to zones from where they can escape freely to the Sargasso Sea; - combating predators; - temporarily switching off hydro electric power turbines; - measures related to aquaculture. The aim of each management plan is to ensure that at least 40% of the biomass of silver eels can escape from rivers and streams and be able to reach their breeding grounds in the Sargasso Sea. Any member state which does not comply with the provisions set out in these management plans will be required to reduce eel and elver catches in the areas affected by 50%.
Controls: every member state will have to set up a control and catch monitoring system. By 1 January 2009, each EU country will be required to: - draw up a list of vessels authorised to fish for eel; - take the necessary measures to identify the origin and ensure the traceability of all live eels imported or exported from their territory.
France and Spain would have liked the compromise to have gone further to discourage illegal fishing outlets. They wanted the origin and destination of dead (cooked, smoked, frozen) eels - not just live - to be checked, and a system of export certificates (as there already are for some species, like bluefin tuna and Patagonian toothfish) to be put in place. (lc)