Impacting demersal fisheries in the North Sea, North Western Waters and South Western Waters, the Commission’s Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG MARE) released a collection of delegated acts on 12 and 22 October to come into effect on 1 January 2016. Upon review, these regulations deviate from the intention of the landing obligation as described in the reformed Common Fisheries Policy. Instead of focusing on all catches from a stock which defines a fishery, the new regulations focus only on specific fleet segments and catch profiles rather than for all catches of targeted demersal stocks. In addition, the delegated regulation for the North Sea excludes targeted fisheries for cod and whiting altogether, despite substantial quotas for both species.
We at the Fisheries Secretariat along with Seas at Risk, Oceana and Birdlife submitted this letter on 2 November to DG MARE Director General João Aguiar Machado regarding the piecemeal implementation of the landing obligation. In the letter, we highlight huge challenges for correctly allocating quota increases, or uplifts, to account for unwanted catch previously discarded.
Lacking adequate monitoring and control, and with poor stakeholder buy-in, the risk of inadvertently increasing the exploitation rate is already high given the potential for continued discarding. This risk is increased if any quota uplifts are applied across all catches from a stock instead of the specific fleet segments included in the delegated act. The data requirements are substantial to determine an equitable and representative uplift per fleet segment.
We are also concerned about the wholesale exclusion of cod and whiting from the North Sea landing obligation. We empathize with fisheries coming under the new rules and we appreciate the transition time needed for fisheries to adopt new fishing practices and catch handling methods at sea and ashore. Yet completely excluding two major targeted and quota managed fish stocks seems like an unnecessary delay.