Brussels, 15/07/2009 (Agence Europe) - On 8 July, the European Commission adopted a proposal excluding certain groups of vessels from application, in 2009, of the effort regime provided for in the long term plan for recovery of cod stocks in the North Sea, Kattegat, Skagerrak, West Scotland and the Irish Sea, in particular. It is suggested that only Spanish and Swedish vessels should be excluded from application of catch limitations laid down in the cod recovery plan.
According to the regulation on the plan for recovery of cod stocks, the Council may, acting on a Commission proposal and on the basis of the information provided by member states and the advice of STECF (Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries), exclude certain groups of vessels from application of the effort regime. This is provided that: - appropriate data is available on the cod catches and discards of the vessels concerned; - and that the inclusion of the group in the effort regime constitutes an “administrative burden disproportionate to its overall impact on cod stocks”.
Germany, Ireland, Spain, France, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom have introduced a request for exclusion for certain groups of vessels. The STECF deems the requests from Spain and Sweden are the only admissible requests. The proposal also provides for the following groups of vessels to be excluded from application of the effort regime: 1) 156 Swedish vessels fishing Norway lobster in the Skagerrak and Kattegat during the period in which such vessels use only a very precise sorting grid.; 2) 88 Spanish vessels fishing deep sea species and hake using bottom trawl with mesh above or equal to 100 mm on the continental shelf off the west coast of Scotland, at depths of between 200 and 1,000 metres.
The Council is invited to adopt the present proposal as soon as possible so that fisheries may plan their activities within the framework of the present fisheries campaign. (L.C./transl.jl)