13 Conservation of sea bass
| Committee's assessment
| Politically important |
| Committee's decision | Cleared from scrutiny
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| Document details | Draft Council Regulation regarding fishing opportunities for sea bass
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| Legal base | Article 43(3) TFEU; QMV
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| Department | Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
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| Document numbers | (36636), 5687/15 + ADD 1, COM(15)41
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Summary and Committee's conclusions
13.1 The sea bass stock provides important fishing opportunities
for pelagic (mid water) trawlers, and it also supports a significant
recreational (angling) activity. However, the level of regulation
at EU level has hitherto been limited, with Member States having
been largely left to take the action they consider to be appropriate.
The Commission says that, despite this, the stock has been in
rapid decline since 2012; that scientific advice in June 2014
identified that fishing mortality is currently well above that
needed to ensure the maximum sustainable yield (MSY); and that
its efforts to persuade Member States to take further action have
been unsuccessful.
13.2 It therefore included in its wider proposals[78]
for total allowable catches by EU vessels in 2015 measures which
sought to tackle this issue, but, in the event, the Council on
15-16 December 2014 was unable to agree on specific steps to protect
the stock. Since then, the Commission has enacted an Implementing
Regulation, which would apply until the end of April 2015 a prohibition
on trawlers targeting bass in certain areas, and it has now put
forward this draft Council Regulation, which would impose a bag
limit on recreational fishermen, but at a somewhat higher level
than originally proposed.
13.3 The Government says that it would also have
liked to see additional catch limits for other commercial fishing
metiers, but that work on this is continuing, where the priority
is to see a balanced approach at both EU and national level, leading
to the recovery of the stock to sustainable levels. It also comments
that the recent "encouraging developments" mark the
beginning of that process.
13.4 When the Commission put forward its original
proposals in this autumn, the main interest (unusually) centred
around the impact these would have on recreational fishermen.
Although the measures in question were not adopted by the Council
in December 2014, the Commission has now produced this further
proposal on recreational fisheries, as part of a wider series
of measures covering commercial fishing for sea bass as well,
in order to tackle the continuing depletion of the stock. The
UK agrees that such action is needed — and indeed has been
in the forefront of Member States pressing for it. Consequently,
although we think it right to draw the proposal to the attention
of the House, we are content to clear it.
Full details of
the document: Draft
Council Regulation amending Regulation (EU) No. 2015/104 as regards
certain fishing opportunities for sea bass: (36636), 5687/15,
COM(15) 41.
Background
13.5 The sea bass stock in the southern North Sea,
Channel, Irish and Celtic Seas provides important fishing opportunities
for pelagic (mid water) trawlers from a number of Member States
— including Belgium, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, and
the UK — and it also supports a significant recreational
(angling) activity, not least in the UK.[79]
However, the level of regulation at EU level has hitherto been
confined to the setting of a minimum landing size, it having been
left largely to Member States to take the action they consider
to be appropriate.
13.6 The Commission has pointed out that, despite
this, the stock, which is late maturing and slow growing, has
been in rapid decline since 2012, and in particular that the International
Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES) advised in June
2014 that fishing mortality is currently four times the level
which would ensure the maximum sustainable yield (MSY). However,
it also says that its efforts to persuade Member States to take
further action have been unsuccessful, and it therefore included
in its wider proposals for total allowable catches by EU vessels
in 2015 measures which sought to tackle this issue by enabling
limits to be set between 1 January and 30 April 2015 on the number
of days which vessels may fish for bass and the amount they may
catch in any one month. The proposal also included a limit of
one fish per person per day on what anglers could take home (the
"bag limit").
13.7 In the event, as we noted in our Report of 4
February 2015, the Council on 15-16 December 2014 was unable to
agree on specific measures to protect this stock (although the
Government told us that it was able to secure a commitment from
the Commission to work with Member States to reduce fishing pressure
at the start of the main fishing season this year — an issue
which it said would be a priority for the UK in the coming weeks).
The current document
13.8 Since then, the Commission has drawn on its
own powers to enact an Implementing Regulation (2015/111),[80]
which would apply until the end of April 2015, and prohibit mid-water
and other trawlers from targeting bass during the spawning aggregation
season in the southern North Sea, Channel, and Celtic and Irish
Seas. However, since recreational fisheries contribute significantly
to the mortality of the stock, it has now put forward this draft
Council Regulation, which would place a daily limit of three on
the number of bass which an angler may retain.
The Government's view
13.9 In his Explanatory Memorandum of 12 February
2015, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department
for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (George Eustice) says
that the measures in Commission Implementing Regulation (EC) No.
2015/111 were adopted as a result of pressure from the UK. He
adds that, in addition to the bag limit proposed for the recreational
sector, the UK would also have liked to see additional catch limits
for other commercial fishing metiers, but that work on this is
continuing, where the priority is to see a balanced approach at
both EU and national level, leading to the recovery of the stock
to sustainable levels.
13.10 In the meantime, he notes that a report by
the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science
(CEFAS) indicated that the majority of fish caught by anglers
are already returned to the sea, and that, although the package
of measures being adopted will help to ensure the sustainability
of the stock for the benefit of all users, the three fish a day
bag limit will have a minimal impact on the overall extent of
sea angling.
Previous Committee Reports
None.
78 (36469), 14590/14: see Twentieth Report HC 219-xix
(2014-15), chapter 2 (19 November 2014) and Thirty-second Report
HC 219-xxxi (2014-15), chapter 16 (4 February 2015). Back
79
According to the Government, the 884,000 sea anglers generate
more than £800 million, and support more than 10,000 full
time jobs. Back
80
OJ No. L 20, 27.1.15, p.31. Back
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