MEPs take up new fisheries policy powers

MEPs began acting on their new Lisbon Treaty power to co-decide fisheries policy with Member States on 1 December - the day the treaty took effect - with a Fisheries Committee indicative vote on three legislative proposals: a long-term management plan for Bay of Biscay anchovy, a multi-annual management plan for Atlantic horse mackerel and control and enforcement measures in the North-East Atlantic fisheries. Making co-decision the ordinary procedure will allow MEPs to save time.

The committee vote still needs to be confirmed by the committee, but it enables MEPs to start informal negotiations with the Council, before technical adjustments are made to adapt the reports to the Lisbon Treaty. 

Bay of Biscay anchovies: more certainty for fishermen

The Bay of Biscay anchovy fishery has been closed since stocks collapsed in 2005, directly affecting more than 2,500 families. The proposed long-term plan should ensure that stocks are managed sustainably, when the fishery is re-opened, and hence remove uncertainty for fishermen. The plan is based on a rule for setting total annual catches  (TACs) and quotas, based on scientific advice.

MEPs welcomed the plan as a whole, but inserted amendments to ensure that the measures are proportionate and do not undermine the stability of the sector. In cases when the scientific authority cannot provide reliable estimates but nonetheless  advises  reducing catches to "the lowest possible level", the reduction should be less drastic, according to the majority of committee members (10% in contrast to 25% proposed by the Commission).

Sustainable management of Atlantic horse mackerel  

Voting on a proposal to establish a multi-annual management plan for horse mackerel in the eastern Atlantic, MEPs called for a fairer methodology for estimating the proportion of discards and for more flexible port access rules, to enable vessels fishing in one area to land the catch in another. 

Whilst the task of setting annual TACs and quotas will remain in the hands of the Council, MEPs also want to ensure that any essential changes to the values used to fix biological references should be approved via the ordinary legislative procedure, fully involving the Parliament.  

MEPs also clarified a number of provisions in a proposal that updates the rules governing North-East Atlantic fisheries. This regulation transposes into the EU law the updated control and enforcement measures to which the EU is committed under the international Convention on future multilateral co-operation in the North-East Atlantic fisheries (NEAFC).