Brussels, 02/04/2009 (Agence Europe) - In Strasbourg on 24 April, the European Parliament is expected to approve a compromise on the proposal on the conservation of fisheries resources through technical measures. On Tuesday 31 March, the EP fisheries committee voted by 14 votes to 1 to adopt the report by Cornelis Visser (EPP-ED, Netherlands) which brings a number of amendments to the initial proposal, in particular on the controversial single bet rule.
Minimum landing size. The proposal provides for undersized living aquatic resources not to be retained on board or be transhipped, landed, transported, stored, sold, displayed or offered for sale, but must be returned immediately to the sea. An exemption allows undersized sardine, anchovy, horse mackerel and mackerel caught for use as live bait to be retained on board, provided they are retained alive. A Parliamentary committee amendment adds a further exemption: in the case of pelagics (sardine, anchovy, horse mackerel and mackerel), “the possibility for 10% of catches to be made up of undersized fish shall be maintained”. The reasoning behind this is that these species are generally caught in large numbers and usually there is a mixture of adult and very small fish.
Combination of nets. The fisheries committee threw out provisions in the single net rule (a ban on ships' carrying on board a combination of nets belonging to more than one category of mesh size). An amendment by Carmen Fraga Estévez (EPP-ED, Spain) sets more flexible provisions on combinations of nets. The Council, on a proposal from the Commission, will regulate cases where vessels may carry on board one or more than one combination of nets of more than one range of mesh size during the same fishing voyage. These measures will take account of the distance between the home port of the vessel concerned and the fishing grounds and the economic value of the secondary species in comparison with target species.
Gillnets and trammel nets. An amendment requires that the immersion time of gillnets must not exceed 24 hours (rather than 48 hours as contained in the original proposal). The industry says that these nets are never left more than 20 hours in the water. Doubling the immersion time compared with usual practice would clearly result in an increase in fishing effort and discards. A further amendment stipulates that where fishing is conducted using gillnets and trammel nets, the use of more than 40 km of nets is not allowed (the initial proposal said 50 km).
Measures to reduce discards. The fisheries committee has softened slightly the rules on “real time moving to another area when maximum by-catches are exceeded”. The amendment adopted (put forward by Fraga Estévez) says that where the quantity of undersized fish caught exceeds 10% of the total catch in any one haul and this situation recurs in a series of three consecutive hauls (the section in bold print was added to the initial proposal), the vessel must move away to a distance of at least five nautical miles from any position of the previous haul before it may continue fishing. The initial proposal allowed for only one haul. MEPs found this did not allow for an adequate assessment of the concentration of juvenile fish.
Pulse trawling accepted. The catching, retention on board, the transhipment, storage, landing, sale, display or offer for sale of marine organisms caught using methods incorporating the use of explosives, poisonous or stupefying substances, electric current or any kind of projectile shall be prohibited, “except pulse trawl fishing”, adds the amendment put down by the rapporteur.
The Commission proposed giving itself the power to decide on most fishing techniques. MEPs and the Council disagree. The fisheries committee amendments state that the Council will decide on: - the minimum and maximum percentages of the target species among the living aquatic resources retained on board; - the mesh size ranges admissible for each target species; - provisions for the reduction or elimination of discards and the improvement of the selectivity of fishing gear; - measures concerning the restriction of fishing activities in specific periods and/or specific areas referred.
Almost 70% of fisheries products consumed in the EU are imported. The fisheries committee and the industry want imports to be subject to the same rules as European products, stressing, in particular, harmonisation of minimum marketing sizes of products. The Commission is invited to bring forward a proposal on this issue. (L.C./transl.rt)