Next week the Agriculture and Fisheries Council will meet in Luxembourg. On the fisheries agenda are among other the Omnibus regulation, discard plan as well as the establishment of a 2014 TAC for Capelin.
Fisheries points will be discussed on Tuesday 17th June. You can follow the public debates and the press conferences by video streaming.
Omnibus Regulation
Under the new EU Common Fisheries Policy the discarding of unwanted fish will be gradually banned, and an obligation to land all catches is a key element of the new policy. The ‘Omnibus Regulation’ is therefore needed to align the technical and control rules to the “landing obligation”, a prohibition to throw unwanted catch back in the water which is due to apply as from 1 January 2015. Ministers will seek to agree on a general approach ahead of negotiations with the European Parliament. You can find more information on FISH recommendation on the Omnibus regulation here.
Discard plans
Ministers will exchange views on the progress in the development of discard plans at a regional level. Member States are currently discussing their discard plans and which will be agreed at sea basin level and sent to the Commission, in the form of joint recommendations, to be taken into account and transformed into EU law via a delegated act. Ministers will discuss progress to date, notably the regionalisation process, the role of the Commission’s Scientific, Technical, Economic Committee on Fisheries (STECF), joint recommendations, and the next steps and timings for the submission of the plans. FISH has together with partner NGOs submitted a joint response on the BALTFISH draft outline of a discard plan for the Baltic Sea.
Establishment of a 2014 Total Allowable Catch (TAC) for Capelin
Denmark will present an AOB point on the management of capelin ahead of the start of the fishing season at the end of June. The Commission is waiting for a proposal from Greenland which will need to be discussed and agreed with Member States. The TAC can then be defined and introduced through a third amendment to the 2014 TAC Regulation. The Commission is committed to acting swiftly once it has received Greenland’s proposal.