7.FISHERIES: EFFORT LIMITATION (DAYS AT
SEA) 2003
(24421)
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Draft Council Regulation amending Annex XVII of Council Regulation (EC) No. 2341/2002 on days at sea.
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| Legal base: | Article 37 EC; qualified majority voting
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| Department: | Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
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| Basis of consideration: | Minister's letter of 7 April 2003
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| Previous Committee Report: | None, but see footnotes
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| To be discussed in Council: | 8 April 2003
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| Committee's assessment: | Politically important
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| Committee's decision: | Cleared
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Background
7.1 As we noted in our Report of 15 January 2003, the
proposals setting out the total allowable catches (TACs) and quotas
for 2003,[15] and adopted
by the Council on 20 December 2002 as Regulation 2341/2002,[16]
were on this occasion accompanied by recovery measures seeking
to address the particular problems facing the cod and hake stocks
in the North Sea and West of Scotland.[17]
These measures will control effort from 1 February 2003 by limiting
the days which may be spent at sea by vessels over 10 metres in
length which catch cod in the North Sea, West of Scotland, and
the Skaggerak and Kattegat, with different limitations (expressed
as numbers of days absent from port per calendar month) being
set according to the type of gear carried, subject to various
flexibilities allowing the movement of days between months and
vessels. We were also told by the Minister for Fisheries, Water
and Nature Protection at the Department for Environment, Food
and Rural Affairs (Mr Elliot Morley) that the operational details
for these new arrangements would be worked up urgently, in close
consultation with the industry, and that the Council and the Commission
envisaged that, with this emergency measure in place, a more sophisticated
regime would be developed for implementation from 1 July 2003,
based on proposals to be brought forward by the Commission by
15 February, and agreed by the Council by the end of March.
The current document
7.2 We have now received a letter of 7 April 2003 from
the Minister, saying that the Commission has finally published
its proposals for the detailed operation of the short-term scheme,
designed to clarify the intentions and to make the scheme more
flexible to apply and enforce. He says that the text meets a significant
number of the UK's concerns about the original measures, and in
particular that it:
- allows vessels to begin a day at sea at any time after leaving
port, and is thus considerably more flexible than the existing
provisions which requires each day to start at midnight;
- confirms that, in accordance with the practice adopted by
the UK, days spent transiting the cod recovery zones to fish elsewhere
are exempt from the provisions of the scheme, subject to suitable
provisions regarding stowage of gear;
- allows days to be transferred from smaller to larger vessels,
provided there is no resultant increase in effort;
- contains a force majeure provision;
- allows Member States to operate their own enforcement mechanisms,
subject to Commission approval, thus making more effective use
of our enforcement resources.
7.3 The Minister adds that, when the proposals were considered
recently in COPEPER, a qualified majority supported the text,
and that the Commission and Presidency are applying considerable
pressure to adopt these amendments at this week's Agriculture
and Fisheries Council. In his view, it would not be in the UK's
interest to delay this, given what has been achieved so far, and
he suggests that, if the text were to be re-opened, there is a
risk that provisions which work to the UK's advantage may be watered
down, or lost altogether. He therefore intends to press for adoption
of the text even though the parliamentary scrutiny process has
not yet been completed, but says that he will send us in due course
a copy of the text approved.
Conclusion
7.4 Whilst it is unfortunate that the Council should
be approving a proposal before we have had a chance to consider
it (or indeed have even received a copy), we recognise that the
intention is to clarify — in a way regarded as helpful by
the UK — aspects of a measure which has already been adopted,
and moreover that it is important that these changes should take
effect quickly, given the short-term nature of the current arrangements.
We are therefore clearing the document.
7.5 However, in doing so, we note that the Commission's
proposals for longer-term measures which are supposed to come
into force on 1 July 2003, and which were originally expected
to be brought forward by the middle of February, are not now likely
to emerge until next month. If these measures are still to come
into effect on 1 July, this will leave very little time for meaningful
parliamentary scrutiny, and we expect the Government to make every
effort to ensure that we receive information on the new proposals
as quickly as possible.
15
(24091) 15246/02; see HC 63-vii (2002-03), paragraph 1 (15 January
2003) and HC 63-xvi (2002-03), paragraph 3 (26 March 2003). Back
16
OJ No. L.356, 31.12.02, p.12. Back
17
(23079) 15245/01; see HC 152-xxii (2001-02), paragraph 13 (20
March 2002), HC 152-xxxvii (2001-02), paragraph 2 (17 July 2002),
HC 63-v (2002-03), paragraph 3 (18 December 2002), HC 63-vii (2002-03),
paragraph 1 (15 January 2003) and HC 63-xvi (2002-03), paragraph
13 (26 March 2003). Back
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