The European Parliament and Council are delaying sanctions for failing to comply with the new Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) discard ban, giving fishermen two years to ‘adapt’.
MEPs said they hope to help make small fishermen’s lives easier by restricting the obligation to keep a fishing logbook listing all quantities of each species caught and kept on board to catches above 50kg of live-weight equivalent.
European Commissioner Karmenu Vella, said: "Today's deal between the European Parliament and Council on the new landing obligation for fishermen brings legal clarity for our fishing community. Throwing back catch into the sea is wasteful and unsustainable.
“I am happy that the new measures will be introduced in a way that supports fishermen as they make the switch to the new rules. This was a successful early test of the newly reformed Common Fisheries Policy. The EU institutions, Member States, stakeholders and the fishing community are all committed to keeping this success going,” he added.
Under the reached agreement, MEPs also removed a requirement to separate out undersized catches in different boxes. Other changes to the original Commission proposal include introducing a mechanism to prevent the development of a parallel market for non-marketable catches.
These rules are urgently needed because the discard ban is already in force, since 1 January, for pelagic species, and the "landing obligation" regulation is needed to adapt seven current EU laws which conflict with the new rules. The ban is to take effect gradually, in stages, between now and 2019.
The compromise text will be submitted to a first reading vote in plenary in April at the earliest, after which the Council must formally approve it. It will then be published in the Official Journal of the EU.
