7th Administrative Board meeting
On 13 March the Administrative Board of the Community Fisheries Control Agency (CFCA) will hold its 7th meeting. Among the decisions to be taken are changes in the budget and the work programme to cater for the Joint Deployment Plan (JDP) for the recovery of blue fin tuna in the Eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea.
The blue fin tuna JDP is the main new initiative of the CFCA in 2008. It is a joint community project in which Member States, the Commission and the CFCA are working closely together. It will mainly concern Member States with a strong interest in the fishery: Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal and Spain. The JDP will organise and co-ordinate control, inspection and surveillance of the bluefin tuna fishery activities at sea and on land, using resources that have been pooled from the participating Member States. The JDP activities will be co-ordinated by a Technical Joint Deployment Group (TJDG), which will be set up in Brussels on 1 April 2008 and remain there until the end of the year.
The Administrative Board will also discuss options for the 2009 work programme of the Agency. The Executive Director has proposed to continue the joint deployment plans for North Sea cod, Baltic Sea cod, blue fin tuna and the joint inspection and surveillance activities adopted under the North-West Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (NAFO), with a possible extension to Western Waters and the North-East Atlantic Fisheries Convention area (NEAFC), which are important fishing areas where there is a need for organizing operational cooperation between Member States concerned. The CFCA should also coordinate control and inspection of imports and landings in Community ports of fishery products originating from IUU fishing activities, organise training for fisheries inspectors and start an evaluation of the effectiveness of the joint deployment plans.
All staff visit Vigo
The Community Fisheries Control Agency (CFCA) is moving to its seat in the Vigo, Spain, in July 2008. As a preparation for the relocation, all staff of the new agency and their partners will visit Vigo 14-18 March. During this trip the staff will be received, inter alia, by the Xunta de Galicia and the City of Vigo.
Background
The decision to establish an EU Fisheries Control Agency was taken under the 2002 reform of the Common Fisheries Policy to strengthen monitoring and control of EU fisheries measures and to help ensure that they are applied uniformly throughout the EU. The Agency will liaise with the stakeholder-led Regional Advisory Councils to secure input from the fisheries sector and other stakeholders, and to help promote a culture of compliance with EU conservation and management measures throughout the EU.
The core activity of the CFCA is operational coordination of pooled national means of control, inspection and surveillance.
The Agency currently has 28 staff members from 12 EU Member States. It will be fully staffed (49 staff members) by the end of 2008.
Among the achievements of the newly created agency are three major coordination tasks carried out in 2007.
Coordination of EU control, inspection and surveillance activities in the regulatory area of the North Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (NAFO), a task that previously was ensured by the European Commission.
A Joint Deployment Plan for cod stocks in the North Sea, which started in July 2007 and will continue in 2008. The plan is an innovative and coordinated effort to combat over-fishing and save endangered cod stocks in the North Sea. Resources (inspectors, control vessels, aircraft, etc) were pooled by seven Member States and were deployed where they were most needed, to ensure more effective and uniform control of fishing activities.
Joint inspection and surveillance campaigns in relation to the long term management plan for cod in the Baltic Sea, which deploy resources that had been pooled by the coastal Member States. The campaigns will continue in 2008.
