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Fishing in the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) Agreement area: technical measures

2014/0213(COD)

The European Parliament adopted by 583 votes to 91, with 15 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EU) No 1343/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011 on certain provisions for fishing in the GFCM (General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean) Agreement area.

The proposal intends to amend Regulation (EU) No 1343/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council in order to include the measures contained in the GFCM recommendations. It contains technical measures for the sustainable exploitation of red coral, the mitigation of incidental captures of seabirds, sea turtles and cetaceans and the conservation of monk seals, sharks and rays in the GFCM Agreement area.

Parliament adopted its position at first reading following the ordinary legislative procedure amending the Commission proposal as follows:

  • certain measures are already in place at national level in line with the GFCM recommendations. Member States having already transposed these recommendations, which were adopted in 2011, 2012 and 2013, should not be constraint to submit today to the Commission requests for derogations foreseen by the GFCM;
  • the harvesting of red coral shall be prohibited at depth less than 50m until scientific studies, as validated by the GFCM's Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC), indicate otherwise;
  • the use of Remotely Operated underwater Vehicles (ROVs) for the exploitation of red coral shall be prohibited. Unless scientific advice states otherwise, that prohibition shall cover, as from 1 January 2016, the use of Remotely Operated under-water Vehicles which may have been authorised by Member States in zones under national jurisdiction exclusively for observation and prospection of red coral on the basis of recommendation GFCM/35/2011/2;
  • use of Remotely Operated under-water Vehicles should be authorised in Member States which have not yet authorised the use of ROVs for prospection and may wish to do so. Such authorisation shall be granted only on the basis of scientific results obtained in the context of national management frameworks and showing no negative impact on the sustainable exploitation of red coral. The use of ROVs may be during a limited period not extending beyond 2015, carried out under the supervision of national research institutions;
  • fishing vessels shall not bring seabirds ashore except within the framework of national plans for the conservation of seabirds or to secure assistance for the recovery of harmed individual seabirds, and provided that the competent national authorities have been duly and officially informed, prior to the vessel concerned returning to port, of the intention to bring such seabirds ashore;
  • specimens of sea turtles incidentally taken in fishing gears shall be safely handled and released unharmed and alive, to the extent that this is possible. The possibility to land sea turtles under national conservation plans or in case it is needed in order to rescue a harmed animal;
  • to the extent practicable, vessels using purse seines for small pelagic species or surrounding nets without purse line for pelagic species shall avoid encircling sea turtles;
  • specimens of monk seals incidentally taken in fishing gears shall be released unharmed and alive. Should such a monk seal be already dead, the carcass shall be landed and the national authorities notified at the latest upon arrival in port;
  • specimens of cetaceans incidentally taken in fishing gears shall be safely handled and released unharmed and alive, to the extent that this is possible;
  • sharks and rays that are caught alive are not always unharmed. However, injured ones should also be released, so that they nevertheless have some chance of survival;
  • regarding reporting obligations, it should not apply to vessels that are not obliged to carry a logbook;
  • the deadline for the communication of the data from the Member States to the Commission is delayed from 15 November of each year to the 15 December.