Category: Article

At the upcoming meeting on 15–16 December, the Fisheries Council will agree on fishing possibilities for 2012 for EU stocks in the North Sea and the Atlantic, based on the European Commission’s proposals. Crucially important in setting the quotas for 2012, will be adhering to scientific advice to be able to achieve the Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) target. This has been agreed to by the EU to rebuild the European fish stocks to a more sustainable level by 2015.

At a plenary today, members of the EP rejected the fisheries partnership agreement (FPA) with Morocco by 326 votes to 296.

The European Court of Auditors (ECA) today strongly criticised the use of subsidies in sustaining overcapacity when publishing its investigation entitled “have EU measures contributed to adapting the capacity of the fishing fleets to available fishing opportunities?” The court investigated spending in seven member states (Denmark, France, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain and the UK) and found that four had set inadequate targets for reducing their fleet, leading to overcapacity, which the court identify as one of the main reasons behind the “failure of the CFP”.

At a meeting in which Danish and Norwegian experiences of ITQ systems were presented, the consensus from four MEPs was that such a system of quota allocation should not be mandatory but may be a useful tool to reduce capacity if stringent safeguards are implemented.

At the end of November, the Expert Working Group of the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF), an advisory body to the European Commission on fisheries management, met in Edinburgh to establish an initial work plan for an impact assessment for the Multi-Species plan for the Baltic Sea. The plan is suggested to include the Baltic sprat, herring and cod.

On December 2, the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) published an independent review of the Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing regulation, which was adopted in the European Union (EU) in September 2008, and came into force more than one year later. Although it continues to be heavily debated —inside and outside the EU— an official review of the legislation has not yet been produced by the European Commission.

Today, the European Commission published its proposals for the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF). The subsidy package will run from 2014–2020 and is valued at €6.5 billion, a slight increase on the previous fund.

Yesterday, a hearing on the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region took place. Stakeholders, mainly from the Swedish civil service, met to review the two years since the strategy was initiated under the Swedish EU Presidency, and discuss what the future holds.

On November 23, Ministers of Fisheries in Sweden, Denmark and Norway signed a joint declaration to end the discarding of dead fish in the Skagerrack. The agreement will come into force on 1 January 2013 at the latest.

On November 22, Seas At Risk (SAR) organised a seminar ‘Making the CFP work for Low Impact Fisheries’ at the European Parliament in Brussels. The meeting took place just before the official SAR launch of their new report on how to integrate Low Impact Fisheries (LIF) into the new Common Fishery Policy (CFP).