8 West of Scotland herring conservation
plan
| (29678) 9342/08 COM(08) 240
| Draft Council Regulation establishing a multi-annual plan for the stock of herring distributed to the West of Scotland and the fisheries exploiting that stock
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| Legal base | Article 37EC; consultation; QMV
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| Document originated | 6 May 2008
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| Deposited in Parliament | 20 May 2008
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| Department | Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
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| Basis of consideration | EM of 2 June 2008, and Minister's letters of 9 July and 1 December 2008
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| Previous Committee Report | None
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| To be discussed in Council | 17-19 December 2008
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Not cleared; further information awaited
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Background
8.1 Whilst the general state of the fish stocks in Community waters
since the introduction of the conservation elements of the Common
Fisheries Policy (CFP) in 1983 has given rise to concern, particular
problems have been identified in respect of certain stocks, notably
cod, where we recently reported on (and recommended for debate
in European Committee) further recovery measures agreed by the
Council at its meeting on 18-20 November 2008,[30]
and herring, where the stocks in the North Sea has been subject
to a multi-annual management arrangement with Norway since 1997.
The current proposal
8.2 The Commission says that the results of the arrangements for
North Sea herring have generally been satisfactory, and, following
scientific advice that the herring stock to the West of Scotland
could be managed in such a way as to achieve a high and sustainable
yield, it put forward in May 2008 this draft Regulation to establish
a multi-annual plan for the stock in question, based upon establishing
given rates of fishing mortality according the size of the stock.
In particular, total allowable catches would be set each year
in order to achieve a fishing mortality rate of 0.25 when the
spawning stock is above 75,000 tonnes, and a rate no more than
0.2 when the spawning stock is below 75,000 tonnes, but above
50,000 tonnes. This is subject to the proviso that the TAC would
not vary from year to year by more than 15% when the spawning
stock biomass exceeds 75,000 tonnes, and that the fishery should
be closed where the spawning stock falls below 50,000 tonnes.
The Government's view
8.3 The Explanatory Memorandum of 4 June 2008 which we received
from the then Minister (Mr Jonathan Shaw) simply said that the
UK was fully supportive of the establishment of a management plan
for this stock in order to achieve sustainable exploitation based
on mortality targets, but added that the Commission had thus far
chosen to ignore concerns which had been expressed by the Government,
and shared by the industry and other Member States, about a number
of elements in the proposal, including the operation of the mortality
targets. However, since he had not specified what these concerns
were, our Chairman wrote asking for further information.
8.4 This was provided in a letter of 9 July, in which
the former Minister said that the UK had three main concerns —
the abrupt change in the mortality target from 0.25 to 0.2 when
the spawning stock falls below 75,000 tonnes (where it believes
that it would be preferable to establish a linear relationship
between the two); the re-instatement of an inter-annual quota
flexibility of up to 10%, which had been included in earlier versions
of the plan; and the inclusion of the 15% limit of annual TAC
variations at all levels of spawning stock biomass, not simply
those exceeding 75,000 tonnes. In acknowledging this information,
our Chairman said that we thought it more sensible to include
it in a Report to the House once the outcome of the Government's
consultation on the proposal was known, though he added that it
would be important for us to be alerted if this information had
not become available in good time before the proposal seemed likely
to be adopted by the Council.
Minister's letter of 1 December 2008
8.5 We have now received a letter of 1 December 2008
from the present Minister (Huw Irranca-Davies) saying that the
Government has continued to press for the views of the industry,
and in particular those of the Pelagic Regional Advisory Council,
to be taken into account, and that the Commission is due to propose
a compromise text shortly. He believes that this should address
these concerns by introducing a TAC constraint when the stock
is between 50,000 and 75,000 tonnes, but adds that much will depend
on what this compromise looks like. However, he expects that ultimately
the UK will be able to reach agreement at the Council on 17-19
December.
Conclusion
8.6 Although we recognise that the timing of further
progress here is very much in the hands of the Commission, it
is clearly unsatisfactory that we are able to consider this proposal
only one week before its likely adoption by the Council. Moreover,
as the terms of any compromise text are not yet known, we are
unable on the basis of the information available so far to assess
the proposal, and hence to clear it. We are therefore simply reporting
it to the House, and we would like the Minister to let us know
the outcome of the Council on 17-19 December, including the extent
to which all the UK's earlier concerns have been met. At that
point, we will take a decision on what further action to take.
30 (29591) 7676/08: see HC 16-xxi (2007-08), chapter
2 (14 May 2008) and HC 16-xxxvi (2007-08), chapter 2 (26 November
2008). Back
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