5 Fisheries: catch quotas and effort limitation
2004
| (25514)
8071/04
COM(04) 224
| Draft Council Regulation amending Regulation (EC) No. 2287/2003 fixing for 2004 the fishing opportunities and associated conditions for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks, applicable in Community waters and, for Community vessels, in waters where catch limitations are required
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| Legal base | Article 37 EC; consultation; QMV
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| Document originated | 1 April 2004
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| Deposited in Parliament | 7 April 2004
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| Department | Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
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| Basis of consideration | EM and Minister's letter of 28 April 2004
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| Previous Committee Report | None; but see (25124) 15388/03: HC 42-vii (2003-04), para 1 (21 January 2004)
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| Agreed in Council | 29 April 2004
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Cleared
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Background
5.1 Each year, the Fisheries Council agrees Total Allowable Catches
(TACs) for particular fish stocks in the following calendar year,
which are then allocated between Member States in the form of
national quotas according to a predetermined key. These annual
proposals habitually present difficulties, in that official texts
are very often unavailable; indeed, the proposals for 2004 did
not originate until 9 December 2003 and were not deposited in
Parliament until 9 December, but, in view of the need for decisions
to be taken before the start of 2004, had to be agreed at a meeting
of the Council scheduled for 17-19 December. Consequently, our
Report of 21 January 2004 was concerned essentially with the decisions
taken at that Council, which were subsequently set out in Council
Regulation (EC) No. 2287/2003.[4]
The current proposal
5.2 In our previous Report, we noted that, for those stocks jointly
managed by the Community and Norway, or where reciprocal access
arrangements apply, the decisions in Regulation No. 2287/2003
were provisional, pending conclusion of the necessary discussions.
Those discussions have now been concluded, and, although for
the most part the TACs already established remain unaltered, the
current document sets out a number of changes which have been
made. In the main, these either relate to stocks in which the
UK has little or no interest, or are of minimal significance,
but the proposals do contain two amendments which are relevant
to the UK industry.
5.3 First, there has been a small reduction (from
just over 68,000 tonnes to about 61,500 tonnes) in the Community
TAC for North Sea haddock. However, more importantly, an attempt
has been made to address a problem peculiar to the UK, which we
highlighted in our Report of 21 January. Because of the risks
that the major increase in the haddock TAC agreed by the Council
in December 2003 would result in greater by-catches being taken
from the depleted cod stocks, the Regulation agreed by the Council
provided that only 20% of the UK quota could be caught in cod
protection areas where it had traditionally been taken, with the
remaining 80% having to be caught in other areas by vessels holding
special fishing permits. The amended proposal adjusts the cod
protection area, and reduces the percentage of the UK quota which
must be taken elsewhere to 65%.
5.4 Secondly, in order to protect cod, a further
measure in Regulation 2287/2003 banned all forms of fishing within
a closed area to the west of Scotland. The new proposal would
make it clear that this ban applies only to those forms of demersal
fishing which take cod, and would thus allow pelagic fishermen
and those who use pots to catch shellfish to continue to operate
within the closed area.
The Government's view
5.5 In his Explanatory Memorandum of 28 April 2004,
the Minister for Nature Conservation and Fisheries at the Department
for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Mr Ben Bradshaw) says
that the Government welcomes the proposal. He says that it "makes
significant changes to the TAC Regulation sought by the UK",
and that in particular the changes to the haddock permit scheme
will make it easier for UK fishermen to take their haddock quota
(as will allowing an extra 500 tonnes of haddock to be taken without
a permit, in order to reflect catches of haddock in other fisheries,
such as nephrops). The Minister also says that one further aspect
of the latest proposals —
introducing a number of changes to clarify or make more flexible
the scheme setting out the limits on days at sea needed to bring
about a recovery of the cod stocks —
needs further consideration,
and that the Government has proposed that this should be dealt
with by the Council separately.
5.6 The Minister has also written to us to say that
these changes were due to be taken as an "A point" (without
debate) at the Justice and Home Affairs Council on 29 April, before
we would have had a chance to consider them. However, he points
out that the arrangements previously agreed by the Council had
caused significant inconvenience to the UK industry, and that
the Government had pressed the Commission to bring forward these
changes as quickly as possible. He therefore believes that any
delay in adopting this amending Regulation could not be justified,
and that the UK intended to vote in favour.
Conclusion
5.7 We have noted these changes, and in particular
the Government's view that their early adoption should make it
easier for UK fishermen to take their haddock quota in the North
Sea. In view of this, and the extensive consideration given to
this question both in the debate held in Westminster Hall on 13
January and the one which took place in European Standing Committee
A on 11 March following our recommendation to that effect on 21
January, we think it sufficient now simply to draw this latest
development to the attention of the House.
4 OJ No. L 344, 31.12.03, p.1. Back
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