A move to reject the Baltic discard ban plan because of a reduction of the minimum landing size of Baltic cod failed to gain enough support in the European Parliament.
With the new landing obligation applying from 1 January 2015, a number of delegated regulations have been tabled by the Commission, largely based on regional proposals developed by the Member States.
In early December, Marek Józef Gróbarczyk (Polish MEP; ECR), tabled a motion to amend the discard ban plan for the Baltic Sea. He did not support the lowering of the minimum conservation reference size (earlier Minimum Landing Size) from 38 to 35 cm – something that most of the Baltic environmental organisations have criticised as well,
Yesterday, this motion was rejected in Plenary with 502 MEPs against, 131 in favour and 77 abstentions. Many of the Swedish MEPs supported Gróbarczyk’s motion, with several rebelling against their group position. This is maybe not so surprising, as Baltic cod is much debated in Sweden and it was the last country to grudgingly agree to lower the MCRS in BALTFISH.