Reforming the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP)
© Richard Carey, Fotolia.com
28.02.2013
In the early hours of 27 February, ministers in charge of fisheries agreed a general approach on a proposed regulation on the CFP. This regulation aims at ensuring the sustainable management of fishery resources and at contributing to the availability of food supplies in the future.
"I'm glad to say that we got an even better result than I was hoping for," Mr Simon Coveney, the Irish Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, presiding over the meeting, said at the final press conference.
The general approach adopted today proposes to implement the discard ban as a key element of the CFP reform. The discards ban should avoid fish which have been caught being thrown overboard because they are too small, damaged or simply over quota.
For pelagic fish, this ban will enter into force on 1 January 2014, other species will follow (for details see the press release).
In order to help the fishing industry to cope with the obligation to land all catches, new management tools such as de minimis exemptions will be introduced. These exemptions apply under strict conditions, in particular as regards obligations to record them in detail.
It will become clear from what was decided, Mr Coveney stated, that the EU is serious about achieving "a fundamental change in the way our fish stocks are managed and in the way our fish fleets operate." The agreement reached today will allow the Council to initiate negotiations with the European Parliament in the coming weeks.
The CFP regulation is to replace the basic provisions of the CFP. The reform is intended to be operational in January 2014.
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