The Committee on Fisheries adopted the report by
Linnéa ENGSTRÖM (Greens/EFA, SE) on the proposal for a
regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending
Regulation (EU) No 1343/2011 on certain provisions for fishing in
the GFCM (General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean)
Agreement area.
The proposal aims to amend Regulation (EU) No
1343/2011 in order to transpose in Union law a number of measures
adopted by the GFCM at its annual sessions of 2015, 2016 and 2017.
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 red coral in the
Mediterranean Sea. The proposal also establishes a fishing
restricted area in the Adriatic (Jabuka/PomoPit
area).
The committee recommended that the European
Parliament's position adopted at first reading under the ordinary
legislative procedure should amend the Commission's proposal. The
proposed amendments are intended to:
- extend the scope of the amended Regulation to
recreational fishing activities where the Regulation
expressly so provides;
- clarify that unauthorised fishing vessels would only
be allowed to transit through a restricted area if they follow a
direct course at a constant speed of not less than 7 knots and with
VMS and/or AIS active on board, and if they do not carry out
fishing activities of any kind;
- require each Member State to establish a closure
period of at least two months during the spawning season of turbot,
from April to June every year;
- establish in the Mediterranean Sea a system of
individual daily and/or annual catch limits for red coral in the
Mediterranean;
- prohibit the landing or transhipment from fishing
vessels any quantity of European hake and deep-water rose shrimp
fished in the Strait of Sicily at any place other than landing
ports designated by the Member States;
- specify that all vessels over 12 metres in length must
be equipped with a satellite-based vessel monitoring system (VMS)
or any other geo-localisation system allowing control authorities
to track their activities in order to be granted a fishing
authorisation;
- provide that national plans
and all their elements must be communicated to fishing associations
and made publicly accessible to all fishermen.