This aspect of the Federation’s work – detailed scrutiny of new legislation – may not be the most exciting task but it is vital to filter out from Commission proposals as far as possible, the unworkable, the impractical, the disproportionate and the sheer wrongheaded.
These proposals have been drawn up in Brussels remote from the realities of operating a fishing vessel in a variety of different conditions – but it is aboard fishing vessels and in fish markets that their effect will be felt. Defra officials will now begin discussions on the text with the European Commission, in a series of Brussels working group meetings.
It goes without saying that if there are fisheries rules they have to be enforced and they should be enforced impartially and equally across all fleets. However the current problem is one that is widely recognised – the CFP has produced a body of fisheries law that is overly-prescriptive, overly-complex and open to criticism from the enforcers of fisheries rules as much as by fishermen.
The new proposal was billed as one that would bring simplification but one would have to look hard to discern any simplification in the proposal that would advantage the fishing industry.
Amongst the NFFO’s red line issues are:
An unachievable 5% margin of tolerance between logbook estimates and landing declarations
Anglers’ catches to be counted and deducted from national quotas
Advance reporting requirements that would, if adopted, jeopardise fishermen’s lives
Disproportionate requirements on mandatory requirements to carry operational satellite monitoring and electronic logbooks for all vessels down to 10 metres
Untenable tightening of designated ports rules
A minimum 6 knot requirement when transiting a marine protected area that is not compatible with the power of some vessels and in all conditions
All discards over 15kgs to be recorded
At least part of the problem lies in the Commission’s attempt to second guess the Council of Minister by including ludicrous values in the expectation that these will be argued down by ministers. The Commission has been told many times by many people that the 8% margin of tolerance is unachievable, especially for smaller amounts of by-catch species. It can only be presumed that the Commission expects the member states to argue this figure up to (achievable) levels and has therefore deliberately lowered the figure. This is not a sensible approach to designing, agreeing and implementing fisheries legislation.
The NFFO/Defra meeting was only the first of what is bound to be a long engagement on the 116 clause document until the new Regulation is in an acceptable form.
