2016 catch quotas for the North Atlantic and North Sea to be decided at the Fisheries Council on 15 December.
The December meeting of the Fisheries Council will determine the Total Allowable Catch quotas (TAC) for the EU fish stocks in the North Atlantic and North Sea for 2016. Following the decisions taken during the October meeting of the Fisheries Council for Baltic TACs, we are concerned that the Council will repeat its pattern of poor adherence to scientific advice and the goals of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). Since 2001, an average of 7 out of every 10 TACs exceeded scientific advice, according to a recent report.
In total the Council will decide on 153 different TACs, of which the Commission has presented proposals for just 65 stocks (COM (2015) 559). The delay on the remaining 88 stocks is mainly due to complexities related to the landing obligation.
Recently we shared our concerns about new rules implementing the landing obligation. The key issue is how to correctly allocate TAC uplifts for fleet segments in lieu of an entire fished stock. The Commission will propose the remaining TACs following the integration of further scientific advice, and we recommend that a TAC uplift for any fleet segment subject to the landing obligation only proceed if Member States have provided sufficient, relevant data to the Commission to calculate the uplift. Under no circumstances should the granted TAC uplift increase the fishing mortality of that fleet segment.
We are also disappointed by the Commissionโs statement in their proposal that โThe ultimate objective is to bring and maintain the stocks to levels that can deliver Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY)โ. This statement falls short of the CFP objective to bring and maintain stocks above levels that can deliver MSY.
The Fisheries Secretariat and Seas At Risk sent a briefing to members of the Fisheries Council focusing on some of the most important fish stocks, urging Fisheries Ministers to follow the objectives agreed under the reformed CFP and to set catch limits following scientific advice, with special attention to where the landing obligation will be applied by fleet segment. Our briefing is available here.