Work on a joint recommendation for a Baltic discard ban plan has continued among the Baltic Member States throughout the spring. In mid-May, a revised version of the earlier drafts was circulated by BALTFISH to stakeholders, such as the Baltic Sea Advisory Council.
BALTFISH – the regional body of Baltic Member States – is in the process of finalising its joint recommendation for a regional discard ban plan. It is envisaged that it will be sent in to the European Commission later this month, in line with the timetable set by DG MARE.
According to the latest draft circulated to stakeholders, the recommendation is that the ban would cover the pelagic species (herring and sprat), cod and salmon from 1 January 2014. It would strive to include sea trout and some flatfish species at a later date. For all of the flatfish species mentioned – plaice, flounder, turbot and brill – there is a lack of sufficient information. Plaice will be benchmarked by ICES in 2014-2015. Some flatfish species are also choke species, and pose particular problems in implementing the ban. Further work on survivability is needed, as well.
Regarding gear exemptions, it is suggested that some passive gears, such as trap-nets and pots, would not be covered by the ban.
In parts of the Baltic fisheries are targeted by the growing populations of seals, and seal damage to the catch is a significant problem. Some progress has been made in developing seal-safe gear alternatives, but the gill net fisheries in particular are affected. This problem has been discussed at length in BALTFISH, and whether the de minimis rule could be used to handle it in the context of the ban. A joint NGO submission on this issue was sent to BALTFISH on 22 May (see below).
Several aspects of the implementation of the new landing obligation in the Baltic remain relatively unclear. For example, how the previously discarded “unwanted catch” will be handled at landing and how the proper implementation will be controlled. The proposed omnibus regulation (COM(2013)889) set out to deal with some of the more immediate aspects, including revisions to the control regulation (EC 1224/2009), but it is unclear whether it will be adopted in time for 2015. The Council Working Group has been going through it and prepared the Council’s response, but the European Parliament did not deal with it before the elections.
When the joint recommendation of BALTFISH is sent to the Commission, it is expected that DG MARE will go through the suggestions and judge whether the draft plan is in line with the reformed CFP, mainly the principles set out in the basic regulation (Arts 14 and 15). As part of the increased regionalization of the CFP, it may then be adopted by the Commission as a delegated or implementing act. If the joint recommendation is found not to be compatible with the intent of the landing obligation and the overarching objectives of the CFP set out in Article 2, the Commission will be empowered to propose and adopt a delegated act valid for no more than three years (Art. 15.6).