The first attempt to reach agreement on the omnibus regulation failed, as Council and Parliament could not agree on a number of issues. It is highly unlikely that the regulation will be adopted before the introduction of the discard ban begins on 1 January 2015.
After a slow start in the spring, the so-called omnibus regulation is now being fast-tracked. Negotiations between the Council and the European Parliament began soon after the Fisheries Committee vote on 3 December. The Fisheries Committee vote was a disappointment, including a proposal to re-introduce a 50 kg threshold for catch reporting, as well as limiting the application of the omnibus regulation to 2015.
The Council, the Parliament and the Commission met on 10 December to reach agreement on the omnibus proposal (COM(2013)889). It appears some progress was made, but that the parties could not reach agreement on all outstanding points. For example, the Council did not support limiting the omnibus regulation to 2015. Another issue still under discussion is whether fishers should be allowed to sell up to 30 kg of undersized fish.
The omnibus regulation sets out to remove inconsistencies in current regulations that would be contradictory to a discard ban, thereby creating a coherent legal framework. It is a temporary solution in support of the interim regionally based “discard plans”, with provisions eventually being incorporated in the multiannual plans. But without agreement on the omnibus regulation before Christmas, the inconsistencies will remain and are likely to create some confusion.
Since the trialogue meeting, the Commission stated at an information meeting on 12 December that without the omnibus the basic regulation of the CFP and the regional discard plans will provide the framework for implementing the landing obligations.
The basic rules about not discarding and which fisheries it will apply to in 2015 may be clear, but fishermen are bound to have questions about many other aspects. DG MARE is providing a basic set of Q&A:s on its website (see below), indicating that there will indeed be a 50 kg exemption in reporting, as well as a more lax view on control and enforcement in the first phase of implementation.
It is our impression that Member States may not have prepared sufficiently for the additional control efforts that implementation of the landing obligation requires. It is also largely unclear how undersized catches will be handled at different landing sites.
It is likely that we will see the new [multistakeholder] bodies regionally and at EU level tasked specifically with monitoring the implementation of the landing obligation and also acting as fora for discussion. At the recent joint meeting between BALTFISH and the BSAC it was agreed that such a working group would be established in the Baltic.