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- Committee decision to enter into interinstitutional negotiations confirmed by plenary (Rule 71) 2020/09/16
- Committee decision to enter into interinstitutional negotiations announced in plenary (Rule 71) 2020/09/14
- Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading 2020/09/08
- Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading 2020/09/03
- Committee decision to open interinstitutional negotiations with report adopted in committee 2020/09/03
- Contribution 2020/08/06
- Amendments tabled in committee 2020/05/27
- Committee draft report 2020/04/14
Progress: Awaiting Parliament's position in 1st reading
Role | Committee | Rapporteur | Shadows |
---|---|---|---|
Lead | PECH | FERRANDINO Giuseppe ( S&D) | MATO Gabriel ( EPP), BILBAO BARANDICA Izaskun ( Renew), ROOSE Caroline ( Verts/ALE), TARDINO Annalisa ( ID), STANCANELLI Raffaele ( ECR), HAZEKAMP Anja ( GUE/NGL) |
Committee Opinion | ENVI |
Lead committee dossier:
Legal Basis:
TFEU 043-p2
Legal Basis:
TFEU 043-p2Subjects
Events
The Committee on Fisheries adopted the report by Giuseppe FERRANDINO (S&D, IT) on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a multiannual management plan for bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean, amending Regulations (EC) No 1936/2001, (EU) 2017/2107, and (EU) 2019/833 and repealing Regulation (EU) 2016/1627.
The aim of the proposal is to transpose into EU law Recommendation 18-02 of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) establishing a multiannual management plan for bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea. This recommendation was adopted at ICCAT’s 21st special meeting, which was held in Dubrovnik from 12 to 19 November 2018.
The transposition covers all control measures that concern the catch and farming of bluefin tuna in EU waters and/or by EU vessels in the Convention Area.
The committee recommended that the European Parliament’s position adopted at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure should amend the Commission proposal as follows:
Strict transposition of ICCAT Recommendation 18-02
Members proposed specific amendments to bring the proposal more in line with the ICCAT recommendation with regard to the following provisions:
- sport fishery, which shall be included in the proposal, and its definition;
- the definition of ‘caging’; it is also suggested to change the terminology of the caging declaration and caging report;
- the possibility to provide for derogations as regards fishing seasons for the eastern Mediterranean and the Adriatic;
- as regards the transmission of VMS data, the possibility of providing for an exception for operations where there is a system of hailing in and out of port;
- the fixing of a limit of the percentage of the quota that may be allocated for farming purposes in the Adriatic Sea (Annex I);
- the possibility of providing for a timeframe for the provision of reports between the Member States authorities (Annex XI).
Alignment with ICCAT Recommendation 19-04
At its 26th ordinary meeting, held in Palma de Mallorca in November 2019, ICCAT adopted recommendation 19-04, which makes minor modifications to recommendation 18-02. Members proposed amendments to further align the text with ICCAT recommendation 19-04. These amendments concern, inter alia :
- the definition of a stereoscopic camera, which should also help to refine the number and weight of bluefin tuna;
- the possibility for Member States to request the transfer of up to 5% of their unused bluefin tuna quota from 2019 to 2020;
- the annual farming management plans of fishing capacity;
- reporting on quantities;
- the ICCAT regional observer programme;
- measures and programmes to estimate the number and weight of bluefin tuna to be caged;
- caging declaration and report;
- marketing measures;
- minimum standards for video recording procedures
Prolongation of the fishing season
The amended text provides that if a Member State demonstrates that, due to extraordinary weather conditions or a public health crisis, some of its purse seiners fishing for bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea were unable to use the fishing days allocated to them for the fishing season, that Member State may prolong the fishing season by an equivalent number of fishing days lost for the vessels concerned, up to a maximum of 10 days lost.
Small-scale fisheries
When allocating the fishing opportunities available to them, Member States shall distribute national quotas among the different fleet segments in a transparent and fair manner, aiming to redistribute part of the quota to traditional and small-scale fisheries. Member States shall also ensure that enough of their quota provides for bluefin tuna by-catches, particularly by traditional and artisanal fisheries.
PURPOSE: establish a multiannual management plan for bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea in accordance with a recommendation of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas ("ICCAT").
PROPOSED ACT: Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council.
ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the European Parliament decides in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure and on an equal footing with the Council.
BACKGROUND: the Union has been a contracting party to the International Convention for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas since 14 November 1997. The Convention provides a framework for regional cooperation in the conservation and management of tunas and tuna-like species in the Atlantic Ocean and adjoining seas through the establishment of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT).
ICCAT has the authority to adopt decisions (recommendations) on the conservation and management of the fisheries under its jurisdiction, which are binding on the Contracting Parties.
At its 21st extraordinary meeting in 2018, ICCAT adopted Recommendation 18-02 establishing a multi-annual management plan for bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea. The management plan follows the advice of the ICCAT Standing Committee on Research and Statistics (SCRS) that ICCAT should establish a multi-annual management plan for the stock in 2018 as the current state of the stock no longer appears to require the emergency measures provided for in the bluefin tuna recovery plan (established by Recommendation 17-17 amending Recommendation 14-04).
ICCAT Recommendation 18 02 should be implemented in EU law in order to enable the Union to fulfil its international obligations and to provide operators with legal certainty as regards rules and obligations.
CONTENT: the proposed Regulation lays down general rules for the uniform and effective implementation by the Union of the multiannual management plan for bluefin tuna ( Thunnus thynnus ) in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, as adopted by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas.
The objective of this Regulation is to maintain a biomass of bluefin tuna above levels capable of producing maximum sustainable yield.
New rules for the management plan
ICCAT Recommendation 18-02, being transposed by this Regulation, provide for a Management plan, that is more flexible than the existing rules for the recovery, while some measures are more precise or restrictive, such as the control in farms. The main differences could be summarised as follows:
- this Regulation provides for 10 days longer open season for purse seiners than in the Regulation (EU) 2016/1627, unless Member States establish otherwise in their annual fishing plans;
- by-catch limit increases to 20% in this Regulation, in comparison to a 5% in Regulation (EU) 2016/1627;
- up to 20% more purse seiners (reference period 2018) are allowed to fish under this Regulation, in comparison with the Regulation (EU) 2016/1627 and a new sectorial quota for small-scale fisheries in Azores, Madeira and Canaries is recognised;
- with this Regulation there could potentially be a 7% more fish in farms;
- the control system for bluefin tuna is reinforced, concerning live fish monitoring at farms. This is done through random controls based on risk analysis and estimation of carry-over by using stereoscopical cameras.
The Management plan requires discarding and releasing bluefin tuna in certain circumstances. It obliges to discard quantities of bluefin tuna from fishing vessels, including recreational ones that exceed the allocated quota of the vessel, and/or the maximum level of permitted bycatches. Bluefin tuna caught on board vessels that are below the minimum conservation reference size will also have to be discarded, with the exception of a given limit of tolerance established by Member States in their annual fishing plans.
The Management plan takes into account the specificities of the different types of gear and fishing techniques. When implementing the Management plan, the Union and Member States should endeavour to promote coastal fishing activities and the use of fishing gear and techniques which are selective and have a reduced environmental impact, gear and techniques used in traditional and artisanal fisheries.
Implementation of the Regulation
In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of this Regulation, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission as regards detailed rules for the carry-over of live bluefin tuna, transfer operations and caging operations. The proposed Regulation establishes a detailed list of cases where delegated powers are requested in order to address frequent changes on the recommendations adopted by ICCAT.
As the bluefin tuna management plan pursues an interim management objective that should be revised by ICCAT from 2020, delegated powers are introduced to rapidly transpose the plan into EU law and to implement timely future changes to the bluefin tuna recovery plan, putting the EU fleet in a situation of even level playing field visa-vis third country fleets.
Documents
- Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading: A9-0149/2020
- Contribution: COM(2019)0619
- Amendments tabled in committee: PE652.493
- Committee draft report: PE647.097
- Legislative proposal published: COM(2019)0619
- Legislative proposal published: EUR-Lex
- Committee draft report: PE647.097
- Amendments tabled in committee: PE652.493
- Contribution: COM(2019)0619
Activities
- Clara AGUILERA
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- Izaskun BILBAO BARANDICA
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- Giuseppe FERRANDINO
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- Othmar KARAS
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- Juan Fernando LÓPEZ AGUILAR
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- Gabriel MATO
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- Dino GIARRUSSO
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- Marcel KOLAJA
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- Caroline ROOSE
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- Annalisa TARDINO
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- Manuel PIZARRO
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- Rosanna CONTE
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- Isabel CARVALHAIS
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