The European Parliament’s fisheries committee has voted on amendments to a series of existing laws that EU association, Seas at Risk, says it “undermining” the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) reform.
The committee voted on the so-called Omnibus regulation, intended to deal with technical details of the new CFP, which would normally just harmonise new policies with existing ones. But, with these amendments, Seas at Risk says the regulation will now undermine central measures of the CFP that would have ensured the end of discarding.
“Today’s vote is seriously undermining the reformed Common Fisheries Policy, which was only came into force a year ago, with the support of millions of citizens,” said Monica Verbeek, executive director, Seas at Risk.
“If this position is supported by Council and the European Parliament, it would do away with fully documented fisheries, a level playing field for the compliance with the landing obligation, and a more inclusive definition of unintended catches,” she added.
The committee decided to introduce a 50kg minimum threshold amount of catch for reporting purposes, meaning that in aggregate huge amounts of unmonitored fish can be removed from the sea across the EU without being covered by logbook reporting requirements.
In addition, the committee voted to provide a two-year window for not complying with the landing obligation and limit the application of this regulation to 20-15 only, meaning that another proposal will be needed next year. Seas at Risk says this will negatively impact the long-term planning of fishers, including investments and planning security.
