PURPOSE: to transpose relevant GFCM (General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean) measures into Union law.
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 Agreement establishing the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM Agreement) provides an appropriate framework for multilateral cooperation to promote the development, conservation, rational management and best utilisation of living marine resources in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea at levels which are considered sustainable and at low risk of collapse.
The European Union, as well as Bulgaria, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Malta, Romania and Slovenia are contracting parties to the GFCM Agreement.
Recommendations adopted by the GFCM are binding on its contracting parties. As the Union is a contracting party to the GFCM Agreement, those recommendations are binding on the Union and should therefore be implemented in Union law unless their content is already covered thereby. The transposition of the relevant GFCM provisions is necessary to ensure that the latter will receive uniform and effective application throughout the European Union.
CONTENT: the European Commission proposes to amend Regulation (EU) No 1343/2011 in order to transpose in Union law a number of measures adopted by the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) at its annual sessions of 2015, 2016 and 2017.
The proposal is consistent with the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). It covers conservation measures, management measures, monitoring, control and surveillance measures and measures to fight illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.
These measures concern the European hake and the deep-water rose shrimp in the Strait of Sicily the turbot in the Black Sea, the blackspot seabream in the Alboran Sea and the red coral. The proposal also establishes a fishing restricted area in Adriatic (Jabuka/PomoPit area). These measures go beyond the existing EU regulation.