PURPOSE: to
amend the existing cod recovery plan, in order to make it more complete,
updated to recent developments, simpler, more efficient and easier to
implement, monitor and control.
PROPOSED ACT:
Council Regulation.
CONTENT: this
proposal aims to amend Council Regulation (EC) No 423/2004, the overall of
objective of which is to ensure the safe recovery of the cod stocks to the
precautionary stock sizes advised by scientists within a time frame of five
to ten years. Scientific advice from the Scientific, Technical and Economic
Committee for Fisheries (STECF), based on the advice of the International
Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) has indicated that the
reductions arising from the collective effect of total allowable landings
(TACs), technical measures (e.g. mesh size, landing compositions, area
closures) and complementary effort management regulations have been far from
sufficient to reduce fishing mortalities to levels required to allow the cod
stocks to rebuild.
The slow
progress towards the achievement of the recovery of cod stocks makes it
necessary to revise the terms and conditions of the plan. This amendment is
justified by the introduction of the following main new elements:
- the need
to revise the objectives: the current
evidence on the effect of global warming makes it necessary to revise
long term objectives of recovery plans. Rather than targeting specific
biomass levels that may no longer be achievable under changing oceanic
conditions, the plan must concentrate on achieving the optimum
exploitation rate that will guarantee the highest sustainable yield that
the new conditions can provide;
- the
simplification of the effort management system: a new system, based on effort ceilings to be managed
domestically by Member States, is necessary to provide greater
simplification of the regulation, more flexibility for Member States,
and more efficient implementation;
- the
adaptation of the plan to different levels of recovery: the plan needs to recognise that when stocks are getting
better, more gradual approaches can be applied. For this reason, the
amended plan introduces a modular approach, where the adjustment of
fishing mortality is a function of the level of recovery achieved;
- the
provision for harvest rules in data-poor situations:it is necessary to provide clear rules to apply when
and where scientists cannot provide precise estimates of stock status;
- the need
to reduce cod discards: new mechanisms must
be introduced, to encourage fishermen to engage in cod-avoidance
programmes;
- the
incorporation of the Celtic Sea cod stock:
recent evaluations confirm that this stock is in a similar status of
overexploitation as the other cod stocks in Community waters. Thus the
need to include it in the recovery plan.
In this
context, the control provisions must also be adapted to the new structure and
provisions.