Brussels, 10/04/2008 (Agence Europe) - By adopting the report by Philippe Morillon (ALDE, France) on Thursday 10 April by 492 votes in favour, 107 against, with 44 abstentions, the European Parliament has amended the proposal to simplify and improve procedures for granting fishing permits to EU boats operating in the waters of third countries. Joe Borg, the European commissioner for fisheries, said that he was prepared to accept a certain number of EP amendments and pointed out that all fisheries agreements, under which Community vessels fish, are to be included in the scope of the proposal.
According to information provided by the Commission, 40% of the total EU fleet in terms of vessel tonnage operates on the high seas or in the waters of third countries, though it is EU activities in developing countries that are of interest to this committee. Vessels from other countries also fish in EU waters, notably under the terms of the so-called “northern agreements”.
In its proposal, the Commission introduced some innovative ideas to improve respect for the fishing agreement conditions and increase transparency of EU fishing boat activities in third country waters. During the previous day's debate, Mr Morillon outlined the objectives contained in the EP amendments: 1) the regulation should only apply to the overseas territories of EU member states; 2) a serious infringement should only be considered as such if it has been confirmed after investigation in compliance with the national law in application; 3) further explanation is required on the black list of ships taking part in illegal fishing (illegal, unreported and unregulated: IUU); 4) the European Commission should only send requests to the authority in charge of awarding licences after giving member states the chance to submit their observations; 5) the Commission can refuse to follow-up these requests if it has established that a member state is not meeting its obligations in a specific agreement; 6) Community fishing boats awarded licences should communicate information about catches and fishing effort to their competent national authority as often as deemed appropriate under the agreement and the fishing undertaken. This obligation has to be compatible with obligations contained in the regulation on the ship's electronic log book. (L.C.)