Last night, after over twenty hours of negotiation, twenty-six Member States signed up to a deal that would reduce discards to 7% across EU waters by 2023. Only Sweden rejected the deal. Swedish minister Eskil Erlandsson commented afterward, “how many exceptions can you have and still call it a ban?”
Throughout negotiations on the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), the discard ban has been the issue which has divided the Council most. Member States were unable to conclude their General Approach last June in large part due to divisions over their approach to discarding.
Earlier in the month, the European Parliament completed their first reading of the main package of the CFP. A huge majority of MEPs, 502 against 137 and a majority in 25 of the 27 national delegations, voted in favour of the Rodust report which calls for a discard ban with no exemptions.
She responded to the Council’s position, saying “this exemption is not an exemption but a loophole. Some Member States simply do not want any changes for their fishermen. I do not expect the Parliament to agree to this in the upcoming negotiations”. The trialogue negotiations will begin on the 18 March.
The deal agreed to by the Council will allow discards to continue indefinitely. It will be introduced on a fishery-by-fishery basis with a sliding timescale.
In year one and two of the discard ban, 9% of the catch will be allowed to be dumped overboard. This lowers to 8% for years three and four, and then sets finally at a level of 7%.
The discard “ban” will enter into force for pelagic fisheries on 1 January 2014. In 2015, the Baltic will be covered and they have three years to “phase-in” the plan (concluding at the start of 2018). The Northern Western waters and the Southern Western Waters and North Sea will start 1 January 2016 and will also have three years to completely adopt and phase in the ban. Finally the Mediterranean Sea will begin in 2017 and will be given two years to complete the phase-in process to be complete by 1 January 2019.
This means that the Council proposes the final tranche of the discard “ban” will be implemented in the Mediterranean with an allowed discard rate of 7% in 2023, or when the next Common Fisheries Policy should be in place.
Sweden should be applauded for rejecting such a weak text. A discard reduction is a compromise which lacks the incentive for fishermen to improve their selectivity and allows for wasteful fishing practices to continue.
The Council has previously criticised the Parliament for not being pragmatic enough during negotiations on the CFP. However, putting forward a discard reduction plan which is impractical to control makes the Council look like they were in dreamland when they cooked it up at 5:30 a.m.