Brussels, 29/06/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 28 June, the EU Council of ministers adopted, without debate, a new regulation giving a precise definition of a drift net. The Commission could use this definition in its case involving the “thonaille” in France (see EUROPE 9456 on the submission of the case to the Court of Justice). The Commission believes that the “thonaille” fishing technique, used by 80 French vessels to catch bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean, is simply a drift net, banned in the EU since January 2002 for catching tuna and tuna-like fish in the Mediterranean and Atlantic. According to the regulation, a drift net is now defined as “any gillnet held on the sea surface or at a certain distance below it by floating devices, drifting with the current either independently or with the boat to which it may be attached. It may be equipped with devices aiming to stabilise the net or to limit its drift”. In other words, the anchor used by the French fishermen to ballast the thonaille will do nothing to alter the fact that the technique is similar to a drift net. (lc)