Luxemburg, 12/06/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 12 June, EU Fisheries Ministers reached a political agreement on the implementation of the new six-year fisheries agreement between the EU and Greenland. The text will be formally adopted at the next Council, to allow the EU to meet the 30 June deadline for its first payment to the Greenland authorities. EU vessels have been allowed to fish in Greenland waters since the start of 2007, but only on a temporary basis until the adoption of the definitive text. Discussions among member states have been somewhat delayed because of an amendment (called for by the European Parliament and the Court of Auditors): the creation of a mechanism authorising the European Commission to transfer fishing licences from one member state to another when quotas were not used up. A timetable has been set for each species with the dates from which the Commission may begin to transfer fishing rights. These vary between the start of September and the end of October.
The agreement, which lasts six years from 1 January 2007, authorises EU vessels (including from Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Denmark) to fish for various species (cod, redfish, black halibut, Atlantic halibut, caplin and snow crab) in the waters off Greenland. Fishing possibilities for 2007 have already been set in a regulation on total allowable catches (TACs) and quotas adopted at the end of 2006. The financial compensation to be paid by the Community to Greenland authorities is €15.8 million per year. (lc)