A few hours into the December Council of Minister which will set TACs and quotas for 2019, the NFFO is warning that problems associated with the Landing Obligation are unlikely to be solved by the assembled ministers.
EU Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Karmenu Vella will present the European Commission's proposals for 2019 fishing opportunities for the Atlantic, North Sea and Black Sea at the Agriculture and Fisheries Council on 17-18th December in Brussels.
Ahead of this week’s December Council, Scottish fishermen’s leaders have warned that the European Union countries will be guilty of vengeful behaviour if they pile pressure on UK fishermen as a result of Brexit, stating that with a fisheries agreement to be negotiated as part of the final exit settlement, it is not in the interests of the 27 EU nations to take a hard line on 2019 quotas and TACs.
Scotland’s Fisheries Secretary Fergus Ewing has called on the UK Government to ensure that Scotland’s interests are being fully represented at the coming week’s December Council in Brussels, following the disappointing outcome to recent negotiations.
In calling on Ministers at next week’s December Council to take into account all CFP objectives and the final phase of the landing obligation implementation in setting next year’s TACs and quotas, the European Association of Fish Producers Organisations (EAPO) has set out its position.
The Faroe Islands and the EU have agreed on reciprocal access for 2019, striking agreements with the EU, Russia and Greenland in recent weeks.
While the main commercial fish species in the Mediterranean and Black Sea are still over-fished, pressure has reduced over past years, according to a report published by the FAO-GFCM, which also identifies needs to reduce by-catches and discards, and to provide small-scale fishing people with greater support.
This year’s December Council of Ministers during which TACs and quotas for the year are argued out in Brussels promises to be one of the most complex ever, as well as being the last one in which the UK participates as an EU member state. According to the NFFO, ministers face a number of unpalatable choices and trade-offs.
A change to the UK Government’s Fisheries Bill making it a legal obligation for ministers to pursue a better share of fishing rights has been welcomed by Secretary of State for Scotland David Mundell, describing the development as ‘great news.’
Minister of fisheries Kristján Thór Júlíusson has allocated 14,305 tonnes of regional quotas around Iceland.
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