Activites

• 2007/09/22 Final act published in Official Journal
  • Regulation 2007/1098
  • OJ L 248 22.09.2007, p. 0001
• #2818
• 2007/09/18 Council Meeting
• 2007/09/18 End of procedure in Parliament
• 2007/09/18 Act adopted by Council after consultation of Parliament
• #2806
• 2007/06/11 Council Meeting
• 2007/06/07 Results of vote in Parliament
  • Results of vote in Parliament
  • T6-0231/2007 summary

    The European Parliament adopted a resolution drafted by Zdzisław Kazimierz CHMIELEWSKI (ALDE,PL) amending the proposed regulation establishing a multi-annual plan for the cod stocks in the Baltic Sea and the fisheries exploiting those stocks. The main amendments were as follows: - the 10% reduction in fishing days proposed by the Commission in Article 8(3) should be brought down to 8%;- a new Article states that, by way of derogation from the rules on minimum landing size for cod laid down in Regulation (EC) No 2187/2005, the minimum landing size for cod in Subdivisions 22 to 32 shall be 40 cm;- the permitted margin of tolerance in estimating quantities in kilograms of fish subject to a TAC (Total Allowable Catches) that are retained on board vessels should be 10% of the logbook figure instead of 8%, as proposed by the Commission. Parliament inserted a 10% margin for catches which are landed unsorted;- Parliament felt that the provisions laid down in Article 17(2), applicable to a vessel which exits from Area A, B or Subdivision 28-32 (Area C) with more than 100kg of cod on board, were unnecessarily complicated and stated instead that the vessel's master should immediately notify the appropriate fisheries inspectorate of the size of the catch in the Area the vessel has left;- the cod weight limit in respect of which notification is required should be increased from 100 kg, as proposed by the Commission, to 300 kg;- the Commission should evaluate the impact of the management measures on the cod stocks concerned and on the fisheries exploiting those stocks in the second year of the application of the proposed regulation and each second successive year of its application, and not in the third year, as originally proposed;- lastly, a new Article 27a states that the Commission shall draft a report on the socio-economic impact of the application of the Regulation on the fisheries sector, particularly on employment and the economic situation of fishermen, shipowners and firms engaged in cod fishing and processing. The Commission shall produce this report in the second year of application of this Regulation and in each subsequent year of its application, for submission to the European Parliament by 30 April of the relevant year.

• 2007/06/06 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• 2007/05/07 Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading
  • A6-0163/2007
• 2007/05/03 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
• #2793
• 2007/04/16 Council Meeting
  • 2793 summary

    The Council held a policy debate on cod stocks in the Baltic Sea in order to provide the necessary guidelines for the work ahead, pending the opinion of the European Parliament which was not expected until early-June.On the basis of a questionnaire Ministers concentrated in their debate on the general objectives of the multi-annual plan for cod recovery in the Baltic, on different options for effort-management and associated control provisions and on how to take sufficient account of the specific needs of small scale fisheries.The Council noted general support for the objectives of the plan.- As regards the type of effort-management and control provisions, several issues were mentioned, namely the outcome of the Baltic Regional Advisory Council (RAC) meeting1, the fight against illegal fishing, the need for revision of the biomass reference and cross reference to the electronic logbook Regulation.- With regard to small-scale fisheries, the Council took note of the unanimous request for the system to be made flexible and simple, taking into account of safety at work, days at sea and summer closing in relation to the biology of Baltic cod as simple means of control and bearing in mind the principle of not to creating unnecessary burdens on fishermen or control authorities.The Council gave a mandate to the Council's preparatory bodies to continue the examination of the proposal, with a view to its adoption in June, subject to and pending the opinion of the European Parliament.Commissioner Borg welcomed the wide support for the proposal's objectives and indicated that the Commission would cooperate with the Presidency to achieve the adoption of the proposed Regulation in the proposed timeframe.

• #2772
• 2006/12/05 Council Meeting
• #2758
• 2006/10/24 Council Meeting
• 2006/09/07 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 2006/07/24 Legislative proposal published
  • COM(2006)0411 summary

    PURPOSE : to propose a multi-annual plan to rebuild Baltic cod stocks.PROPOSED ACT : Council Regulation.CONTENT : the Commission is proposing to establish a multi-annual plan for the long-term management of the fisheries on the cod stocks in the Baltic Sea to ensure that the exploitation of Baltic cod stocks is in conformity with the overall objective of the Common Fisheries Policy of providing sustainable economic, environmental and social conditions. This multi-annual plan for Baltic cod has been developed through extensive consultation with stakeholders and with the Member States concerned. This is one of a series of long-term plans developed by the Commission to help re-establish European fisheries on a basis which is at once biologically sound, economically profitable and socially sustainable.More specifically, the Commission is proposing targets of fishing mortality rates of 0.6 for Western Baltic cod and 0.3 for Eastern Baltic cod. These are designed so as to be sufficiently low to allow the rebuilding of the stocks to sustainable levels while being sufficiently high to ensure high yields for fishermen. A revision clause is included so that minimum mortality rates can be amended in the light of new scientific advice. Total Allowable Catches (TACs) would be set so as to reduce fishing mortality from current rates by 10% a year until the target rate for each stock is reached. It would, however, be possible to have greater reductions if the state of the stock concerned required it. At the same time, some degree of stability will be guaranteed for the industry by capping annual variations in TACs so that they can neither be reduced nor increased by more than 15% year-on-year. It should be noted that constant or declining fishing mortality on a stock that is growing rapidly can lead to rising TACs. Initial TACs for both stocks will be decided by Council next October, as part of the Baltic TACs and quotas regulation for 2007. The TACs and quotas for 2006 and effort management measures for 2006 were already set with this plan in mind. An effort limitation scheme will also be set up with the aim of reducing fishing effort by 10% each year until the target fishing mortality rate has been achieved. The scheme will be based on the existing summer ban. This ban closes all fishing for cod with nets larger than 90mm and with bottom set lines for two months in the western Baltic (15 March to 14 May) and for three months in the eastern Baltic (15 June to 14 September). The number of remaining days will then be reduced by 10% each year until such time as the fishing mortality targets for the stocks have been reached. This additional reduction can be implemented in a number of different ways. Additional control measures are included in the proposal, which will be crucial to ensuring its success.A special derogation to the closed periods under this scheme is available for small-scale coastal fisheries, where boats of less than 12 metres in length will be authorised to retain on board and land up to 10% of cod by live weight caught by gillnets, entangling nets or trammel nets with mesh size of 110 mm or more. In addition, the fishing days allocated to Member States will be increased in proportion to any permanent reductions in fishing effort achieved, whether through permanent cessation of fishing activities or through the definitive withdrawal of vessels from the fishing area concerned.

  • DG {'url': 'http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/maritimeaffairs_fisheries/', 'title': 'Maritime Affairs and Fisheries'}, BORG Joe

Documents

• Legislative proposal published: COM(2006)0411
• Debate in Council: 2793
• Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading: A6-0163/2007
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Results of vote in Parliament: Results of vote in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T6-0231/2007
• : Regulation 2007/1098
• : OJ L 248 22.09.2007, p. 0001

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)