Landings obligation double u-turn shock
11th December 2015
***As Fishing News hit its press deadline, it was understood that intensive efforts were being made at all levels to reverse the shock decision taken by the Fisheries Committee of the European Parliament to fully enforce the demersal landing obligation from 1st January 2016. It is now anticipated that the discard ban will again be phased in as originally planned after MEPs agreed to a second U-turn.***
Turmoil as MEPs vote to block phasing-in regulation
The landings obligation will come into force in full in the North Sea on 1 January 2016 instead of being phased-in as agreed by the EU Commission, member state high level groups and the North Sea Advisory Committee, reports Tim Oliver.
The fisheries committee of the European Parliament, using its co-decision making rights, demanded more time at a meeting last Thursday (10 December) to scrutinise the legal document authorising the phasing-in of the landings obligation in the North Sea.
EU fisheries ministers were due to give the go-ahead to the phasing-in plans at this week’s Fisheries Council in Brussels on Monday and Tuesday (13/14 December). But this last minute intervention has thrown the Council into turmoil – and also puts a question mark over more regional decision–making under the reformed CFP.
It means that instead of North Sea fishermen who target haddock, nephrops, plaice, sole and northern prawn having to land all their catches of only those species, they will now legally be forced to land from 1 January their whole catches of every quota species, including cod.
This will apply until at least February, when there will be further scrutiny of the phasing in legislation.
Although the bombshell development affects only the North Sea, it has implications for Western Waters.
As Fishing News went to press on Friday (11 December) the NFFO said the development was “a car crash”. They said the implications of “this piece of petty procedural point scoring” were unclear and they were talking to senior DEFRA officials to see how the damage could be limited.
“On the face of it, it means that instead of a phased introduction of the demersal landings obligation from 1 January 2016, vessels fishing in the North Sea will be legally obliged to land all regulated species,” said NFFO chief executive Barrie Deas.
“No phasing, no exemptions, no ways of dealing with inevitable chokes in mixed fisheries. Unless some way can be found to reverse this act of folly, the landings obligation, unmediated or softened by any discard plan will come into force in the North Sea at one minute after midnight on 1 January. The delay only applies to the North Sea but is not without implications for North West Waters.”
Realistically, there should be no threat of enforcement action on vessels in the short-term because member states had been caught as unawares as the industry.
Barrie Deas said the development was also a threat to the regionalisation of the CFP. “Specific provision was included within the CFP for regional discard plans to be developed. Beyond the immediate chaos for fisheries administrators and fishermen, this petty and myopic decision by an obscure procedural committee raises the question of whether regionalisation is going to be allowed to function, or will be strangled at birth by procedure.
“We really don’t need this distraction only a few days before the beginning of the December Council when crucial decisions will be made on next year’s quotas and a moratorium on catching bass.
“What will be the implications for quota uplift to accommodate the species coming under the landings obligation?”
Intense discussions were being held with lawyers, other member states and the Commission to resolve the issue.
Dr Ian Duncan, Conservative Scottish MEP, said he was “furious” at the decision, which was “madness”. He blamed it on voting by political groups on the EU Parliament’s fisheries committee that included UKIP and the SNP.
He said: “The legal basis of the whole demersal discard ban is up in the air. Unless the political parties that caused the problem get their act together fast, the impact on Scottish fishermen could be seismic.
“The SNP and UKIP claim to be standing up for Scottish and British fishermen. By allowing representatives of their group to vote in this way, they are condemning fishermen to a bleak Christmas and a challenging New Year.
“We have got to get this mess sorted out. I will be doing all I can to get the deal that the Scottish fleet needs back on the table.”
Read more from Fishing News here…
***As Fishing News hit its press deadline, it was understood that intensive efforts were being made at all levels to reverse the shock decision taken by the Fisheries Committee of the European Parliament to fully enforce the demersal landing obligation from 1st January 2016. It is now anticipated that the discard ban will again be phased in as originally planned after MEPs agreed to a second U-turn.***
Turmoil as MEPs vote to block phasing-in regulation
The landings obligation will come into force in full in the North Sea on 1 January 2016 instead of being phased-in as agreed by the EU Commission, member state high level groups and the North Sea Advisory Committee, reports Tim Oliver.
The fisheries committee of the European Parliament, using its co-decision making rights, demanded more time at a meeting last Thursday (10 December) to scrutinise the legal document authorising the phasing-in of the landings obligation in the North Sea.
EU fisheries ministers were due to give the go-ahead to the phasing-in plans at this week’s Fisheries Council in Brussels on Monday and Tuesday (13/14 December). But this last minute intervention has thrown the Council into turmoil – and also puts a question mark over more regional decision–making under the reformed CFP.
It means that instead of North Sea fishermen who target haddock, nephrops, plaice, sole and northern prawn having to land all their catches of only those species, they will now legally be forced to land from 1 January their whole catches of every quota species, including cod.
This will apply until at least February, when there will be further scrutiny of the phasing in legislation.
Although the bombshell development affects only the North Sea, it has implications for Western Waters.
As Fishing News went to press on Friday (11 December) the NFFO said the development was “a car crash”. They said the implications of “this piece of petty procedural point scoring” were unclear and they were talking to senior DEFRA officials to see how the damage could be limited.
“On the face of it, it means that instead of a phased introduction of the demersal landings obligation from 1 January 2016, vessels fishing in the North Sea will be legally obliged to land all regulated species,” said NFFO chief executive Barrie Deas.
“No phasing, no exemptions, no ways of dealing with inevitable chokes in mixed fisheries. Unless some way can be found to reverse this act of folly, the landings obligation, unmediated or softened by any discard plan will come into force in the North Sea at one minute after midnight on 1 January. The delay only applies to the North Sea but is not without implications for North West Waters.”
Realistically, there should be no threat of enforcement action on vessels in the short-term because member states had been caught as unawares as the industry.
Barrie Deas said the development was also a threat to the regionalisation of the CFP. “Specific provision was included within the CFP for regional discard plans to be developed. Beyond the immediate chaos for fisheries administrators and fishermen, this petty and myopic decision by an obscure procedural committee raises the question of whether regionalisation is going to be allowed to function, or will be strangled at birth by procedure.
“We really don’t need this distraction only a few days before the beginning of the December Council when crucial decisions will be made on next year’s quotas and a moratorium on catching bass.
“What will be the implications for quota uplift to accommodate the species coming under the landings obligation?”
Intense discussions were being held with lawyers, other member states and the Commission to resolve the issue.
Dr Ian Duncan, Conservative Scottish MEP, said he was “furious” at the decision, which was “madness”. He blamed it on voting by political groups on the EU Parliament’s fisheries committee that included UKIP and the SNP.
He said: “The legal basis of the whole demersal discard ban is up in the air. Unless the political parties that caused the problem get their act together fast, the impact on Scottish fishermen could be seismic.
“The SNP and UKIP claim to be standing up for Scottish and British fishermen. By allowing representatives of their group to vote in this way, they are condemning fishermen to a bleak Christmas and a challenging New Year.
“We have got to get this mess sorted out. I will be doing all I can to get the deal that the Scottish fleet needs back on the table.”
Read more from Fishing News here…
