There has been no real decrease in the number of serious infringements to the rules of the EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), the Commission said in its seventh annual report on the subject, published on November 4.
Infringement report
The report dealt with infringements detected in 2006 and showed a slight (1 per cent) decrease from 2005, but since the number of active vessels had diminished by 10 per cent over the same period, this was seen as no improvement.
The Commission said it remained concerned, both at the detection rate and the level of sanctions applied by the member states. The Commission mentioned withdrawal of fishing licenses as a particularly effective means to enforce the rules, but also noted that this procedure varied widely in use between the member states – in some states licenses were withdrawn in over 70 per cent of the infringement cases, while in others less than 2 per cent.
Not surprisingly, the average fine varied considerably, as well; from €170 in some member states to €6,070 in others. The average for the Union as a whole was €1,548, exactly the same as in 2005, but less than half the average fine imposed in 2003 (€4,664).
The most common infringements, besides unauthorised fishing, concerned storing, processing, placing for sale and transporting of fishery products not meeting the set standards.
“Once again, our annual report on serious infringements confirms the need to overhaul the Common Fisheries Policy control system, both in what it reveals, and in what it leaves unsaid. Without effective control, we will never be able to reverse the current downward spiral of European fisheries. Better, fairer, and more deterrent enforcement of the rules is a vital step towards the next Reform of the CFP on which we have now begun to work”, commented Joe Borg, Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries.
The report coincided with the verdicts in one of the largest fish poaching trials in Sweden ever, where 16 West Coast fishermen were indicted for passing off some 140 landings of 109 tonnes of cod as pollack in 2005. Seven of them were fined between €340-7,000, the prosecutor’s motion for the fishermen’s profits from selling the illegal catches to be forfeited was denied by the court, and no fishing licenses were withdrawn.
Infringements by Baltic States
These are detected serious infringements statistics for 2006 for the eight EU Member states surrounding the Baltic. Please note that figures, based on reports from the Member States themselves, include infringements not only in the Baltic Sea:
| Member State | Active vessels | Infringements | Average fine (Total fines) | Licenses withdrawn |
| Sweden | 1,567 | 80 | 484 (8) | 0 |
| Finland | 3,196 | 11 | 198 (2) | 0 |
| Estonia | 994 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Latvia | 897 | 94 | 129 (94) | 0 |
| Lithuania | 266 | 4 | 1,231 (4) | 0 |
| Poland | 884 | 129 | 688 (126) | 0 |
| Germany | 2,017 | 101 | 436 (89) | 0 |
| Denmark | 3,136 | 323 | 542 (116) | 27 |