The European Parliament adopted by 573 votes to 96,
with 21 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a
regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending
Council Regulations (EC) No 850/98, (EC) No 2187/2005, (EC) No
1967/2006, (EC) No 1098/2007, No 254/2002, (EC) No 2347/2002 and
(EC) No 1224/2009 and repealing (EC) No 1434/98 as regards the
landing obligation.
It should be recalled that the reform of the common
fisheries policy adopted in 2013 saw fundamental changes being made
to the rules applicable to fisheries. More specifically, the basic
common fisheries policy regulation (Regulation
(EC) No 1380/2013) imposes a landing obligation for all
catches. That obligation will enter into effect in a stepwise
manner over the period 2015 to 2019.
Since this landing obligation conflicts with several
EU regulations currently in force, the Commission has brought
forward an ‘Omnibus’ regulation which seeks to amend
seven regulations in parallel so as to bring them into line with
the basic common fisheries policy regulation.
Parliament adopted its position at first reading
following the ordinary legislative procedure. The amendments
adopted in plenary amended the Commission proposal as
follows:
- in
order to ensure monitoring and enforcement of the landing
obligation, Council Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 (10) should be
amended by requiring data on catches below the minimum conservation
reference size to be recorded separately;
- given that the landing obligation represents a
fundamental change for operators, it is appropriate to postpone
for two years the application of the rules on serious
infringements as regards infringements of that
type;
- according to the Parliament the development of
parallel activities specifically devoted to catching marine
organisms that are below the minimum conservation reference size
for uses other than human consumption should be
prevented;
- minimum marketing sizes should
correspond to the minimum conservation reference sizes for the
species in question;
- the master of each Union fishing vessel of 10 meters
length overall or more shall keep a fishing logbook of
operations, indicating specifically, for each fishing trip, all
quantities of each species caught and kept on board above 50 kg of
live-weight equivalent. The 50 kg threshold shall apply as soon as
catches of a species exceed 50 kg.
By 31 May 2016, and by 31 May of each subsequent year
up to and including 2020, the Commission shall submit an annual
report on the implementation of the landing obligation, based
on information transmitted by the Member States, the Advisory
Councils and other relevant sources to the Commission. Annual
reports shall include:
- steps taken by Member States and producer
organisations to comply with the landing obligation;
- steps taken by Member States regarding control of
compliance with the landing obligation;
- information on the socio-economic impact of the
landing obligation;
- information on the effect of the landing obligation on
safety on board fishing vessels;
- information on the use and outlets of catches below
the minimum conservation reference size of a species subject to the
landing obligation;
- information on port infrastructures and of
vessels’ fitting with regard to the landing
obligation;
- for each fishery concerned, information on the
difficulties encountered in the implementation of the landing
obligation and recommendations to address them.