1 Consultation on fisheries
management proposals
| (27545)
9898/06
COM(06) 246
| Commission Communication on improving consultation on Community fisheries management
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| Legal base | — |
| Document originated | 24 May 2006
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| Deposited in Parliament | 2 June 2006
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| Department | Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
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| Basis of consideration | EM of 15 June 2006
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| Previous Committee Report | None, but see footnote 1
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| To be discussed in Council | June 2006
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | For debate in European Standing Committee
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Background
1.1 Each year, the Fisheries Council agrees the Total Allowable
Catches (TACs) for particular fish stocks in the following calendar
year, based on advice from the International Council for the Exploration
of the Sea (ICES), and, in those cases where particular fisheries
are jointly managed with third countries, after negotiating the
Community share with the countries concerned. In some cases, the
ICES advice is provided in the spring, but, for the majority of
stocks of interest to UK fishermen, it is not available until
mid October, and then has to be considered in early November by
the Commission's Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee
for Fisheries (STECF).
1.2 This has habitually led to scrutiny difficulties,
since official texts of the resulting Commission proposals are
very often unavailable until shortly before the Council meeting
at which decisions have to be taken, or (at best) are too late
to enable us to consider them properly beforehand. Thus, the proposals[1]
setting out the TACs in 2006 had to be agreed at the meeting of
the Council scheduled for 20-22 December 2005, but were not deposited
in Parliament until 15 December. However, as we noted in our Report
of 25 January 2006, the Government had sent us with its usual
Explanatory Memorandum a copy of the paper which the UK Presidency
had presented to the Council the previous month, aimed at addressing
this problem. This recognised that any fundamental change in the
ICES timetable would require a rescheduling of scientific surveys,
and that this could take some years to achieve. In the meantime,
it proposed that the Commission should draw up proposals for TACs
for the following year as soon as the earlier ICES advice is available,
based on the previous October's advice for those stocks
dependent on survey results. These proposals would then be published
by mid-July at the latest, and decided at the November meeting
of the Fisheries Council, thus on the one hand allowing four months
for technical examination and consultation, and on the other,
one month to implement the decisions taken before the start of
the next calendar year.
The current document
1.3 In the current document, the Commission has sought
to build upon this approach. It notes that the present management
systems for fisheries was developed in the early 1980s, when the
main concern was not so much —
as it is now —
to manage the sustainable development of fisheries as to forecast
the short-term catch which could be taken from each stock. It
says that this in turn has inadvertently made decision-making
more difficult, in that the focus on the short-term has hindered
proper discussion of long-term management, and has put a premium
on forecasts being as accurate as possible, thereby delaying scientific
assessment until later in the year so as to incorporate the most
up-to-date information.
1.4 In considering how to improve the situation,
the Commission notes that one option would be to move away from
setting TACs on the basis of calendar years, and instead start
the twelve month management period from a different date. However,
it says that, although this might improve the situation for some
fisheries, it could introduce new problems for others. Equally,
introducing a different fishing year for different stocks would
entail significant administrative costs. It therefore suggests
that this option should not be pursued in the short term if acceptable
alternative solutions based on changing the current schedule of
stock assessments are available.
1.5 The Commission then recalls that ICES advice
is currently provided at two different times — in June for
deep sea species, Baltic Sea stocks and several stocks of herring
and sprat, and in October for mackerel, nephrops, and most demersal
flatfish and roundfish — and it adds that it has begun to
discuss with ICES the scope for providing advice for more stocks
in June, recognising that this could in some cases result in a
less precise forecast. It says that ICES is undertaking a detailed
evaluation, and that, together with the Commission, will be looking
to agree a revised process from 2007: in the meantime, ICES will
also consider the provision of interim advice in 2006, though
it notes that the scope for this may be limited by the fact that
national fisheries research institutes have already planned the
use of their resources. In addition, for those stocks managed
jointly with third countries, the Commission will be discussing
the possibility of taking earlier decisions on those related technical
measures which are not so dependent on up-to-date scientific advice,
in order to relieve the pressures that otherwise arise at the
end of the year.
1.6 The Commission also notes that, although certain
more detailed scientific information on the stocks will only be
available later in the year, some more general characteristics
will be known in advance, and that the preparation of management
decisions could be improved by drawing up for all stocks under
Community management "harvest rules", analogous to those
already adopted by the Council for recovery plans for certain
individual stocks, which will determine the decisions taken on
the TAC. These rules would include establishing the degree of
variation of a TAC from year to year; establishing rules on the
reduction of fishing mortality rates towards a sustainable level;
and adjusting fishing effort (days at sea) in line with fishing
mortality rates.
1.7 Until such rules can be adopted, the Commission
proposes that it should in April of each year present a policy
statement on the setting of TACs for the following year, including
a commitment to gradually develop stocks to the most appropriate
levels to ensure their sustainable exploitation while providing
high yields, and adopting the principle that fishing mortality
should not be increased on any stock where mortality exceeds the
level which could lead to high long-term yields. It also proposes
that this policy statement would form the basis of a round of
consultation with Member States and Regional Advisory Committees
during the summer, providing an opportunity for a more strategic
debate.
1.8 Finally, the Commission suggests that certain
changes could be made in the timing of advice on different stocks.
In particular, it says that, where forecasts are strongly dependent
on the latest scientific estimates, this will have to continue
as at present to be addressed at the end of the year, but that
for other, more long-lived stocks, which are managed by the Community
alone, this process could be brought forward, with a draft regulation
being presented to the Council in September, thereby allowing
for its adoption in October. In particular, such an approach (which
has recently been adopted for Baltic Sea stocks, and for deep
sea species) could be extended to species such as blue whiting,
mackerel and herring.
1.9 The timetable which would arise as a result of
these proposals is set out in the Annex.
The Government's view
1.10 In his Explanatory Memorandum of 15 June 2005,
the Minister for Local Environment, Marine and Animal Welfare
at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Mr
Ben Bradshaw) says that, having provided its own suggestions on
how the negotiating process could be improved, the UK was one
of the driving forces behind the Commission initiative, and is
therefore fully supportive of it. He adds that it will however
be necessary to maintain pressure on the Commission to ensure
adequate delivery.
Conclusion
1.11 Given the problems which successive Committees
have encountered in seeking to exercise proper Parliamentary scrutiny
over these annual proposals, we welcome the efforts which the
Commission has made to try to address these difficulties, though
we note that the assessments for many stocks of interest to the
UK are still unlikely to be available until late in the year.
In view of this, and the impact which the changes which have been
proposed would have on the timing of consultations with the industry
on future fishing opportunities, we believe that this is an issue
on which Members may wish to question the Government. We are therefore
recommending the document for debate in European Standing Committee.
1 (27079) 14920/05; see HC 34-xvi (2005-06), para 10
(25 January 2006). Back
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