Deep-sea fish vote could be delayed

MEPs on the European Parliament’s fisheries committee are trying to delay a vote on new restrictions on deep-sea fishing, possibly until the next Parliament.

Update 21/03/13: The coordinators turned down the request for a new impact assessment today, instead deciding to ask the Commission to update their impact assessment. A new hearing has been scheduled for 17 June. The committee vote has been delayed to September.

The European Commission proposed a stricter licensing system for deep-sea fishing in July 2012. Licenses for vessels that use certain types of uneconomical deep-sea fishing equipment (bottom trawls and bottom-set gillnets) would be phased out and banned under the proposal, from two years after the regulation enters force. Fishing groups have complained it unfairly penalises certain fishing methods for no justifiable reason.  

A report by centre-left Green MEP Kriton Arsenis, who is guiding the legislation through the Parliament, was due to be presented to the fisheries committee this morning (20 March). But it was delayed because of a complaint filed by several members of the committee who allege Mr Arsenis has not taken the concerns of fishermen into account. The Arsenis report backs the Commission proposal.  

Last week Scottish centre-right MEP Struan Stevenson wrote to the committee complaining that a hearing organised by Arsenis on 19 February was “somewhat one-sided and failed to incorporate sufficiently the views from the sector.” The letter, signed by nine MEPs, says a second hearing must be held. They also want the Parliament to conduct its own impact assessment, separate from the one already conducted by the Commission.  
Arsenis’s office said that there were fishermen at the hearing and their views were reflected. They allege that the call for a Parliament impact assessment is a delaying tactic, since it could take nine months to complete and therefore delay consideration of the legislation past the current Parliament’s mandate.  

The request will be discussed in a meeting of the fisheries committee group coordinators. Stevenson was unavailable for comment.  

Deep-sea fisheries account for just 1% of EU fishing in EU waters. But catches have been falling for years because of a lack of regulation, with a knock-on effect on jobs in the sector and on fish stocks. Most of this type of fishing (which takes place at up to 4,000 meters deep) in EU waters takes place in Portuguese and Spanish waters, but it also takes place in international waters that are partly governed by the EU.

Click Here: Golf special