At their recent Council meeting in Brussels, fisheries ministers addressed several issues.
On the conservation of fisheries resources through technical measures, the Council reached agreement on a Presidency compromise. This agreement ensures that the following technical measures will remain in place for 2010: closed areas, the obligation to use sorting grids and square mesh panels, the high-grading ban in the North Sea and the Atlantic, and provisions to protect elasmobranchs and gillnet provisions.
On the fishing possibilities for the turbot stock in the Black Sea for 2010, the Council reached political agreement on a TAC of 96 tonnes. This will be coupled with national management plans which Bulgaria and Romania will soon be submitting and which will have to be agreed with the Commission.
This Council meeting coincided with the conclusion of the first round of annual consultations with Norway for 2010 in Bergen. This year's negotiations on issues, including Norwegian access to mackerel fisheries in EU waters, have not yet produced an agreement. Negotiations will continue in the coming weeks.
Commissioner Borg also raised the issue of effective mitigation measures to combat incidental catches of seabirds. In spring 2010, the Commission will launch a study to collect data, as a first step towards fully addressing fishing's effects on seabird populations. Alongside this, fishermen should be encouraged further to applying existing effective low-cost mitigation measures.
Lastly, the Commissioner informed ministers of the outcome of last week's ICCAT annual meeting in Recife, Brazil and the impact on the EU tuna fleets. On bluefin tuna fisheries there was a consensus for a substantial cut in the total allowable catch, a reduction in the season for purse seiners, drastic reductions in fishing capacity and other important conservation measures.
