In a plenary vote, The European Parliament has adopted the Fisheries Committee’s consultative report on the Control Regulation proposed by the Commission.
No changes were made, meaning that amendments to strengthen that report proposed by the rapporteur, as well as amendments proposed by MPs to weaken it, were rejected. As for the hotly contested Article 47 on “Monitoring of Recreational Fisheries” in the Regulation proposal, the Parliament changed the wording that Member States “shall” estimate the impact of recreational fisheries conducted in their waters and submit the information to the Commission, to “may” estimate.
The relevant Member States and the Commission will decide which recreational fisheries are having a significant impact on which stocks, based on advise from the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF). For those fisheries, the Member State concerned, in close cooperation with the Commission, will develop a monitoring system that is able to accurately estimate the total recreational catches from each stock. Recreational fisheries shall comply with the objectives of the Common Fisheries Policy, the Parliament stated.
In a press release, the Commission, on its hand, said it “welcomed” the Parliament’s support for its proposed new control system. “The European Parliament sent a clear signal today”, Commissioner Joe Borg noted. “The new system would establish a global and integrated approach to control, focusing on all aspects of the Common Fisheries Policy and covering the whole chain of catch, landing, transport, processing and marketing – from catch to consumer “.
The new Control Regulation is to be discussed and voted by the Council of Ministers in June, for possible final adoption during the Swedish Presidency in the second half of 2009.