(2004/C 84 E/0311)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3907/03

by Camilo Nogueira Román (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(17 December 2003)

Subject:   Commission proposal to reduce fishery catches in 2004, in Galician waters and those of the Iberian peninsula in general

A few weeks from the beginning of the new year, the Commission, as it does every year, displaying behaviour which in any other economic sector would be absurd and unacceptable in equal measure, has just announced its proposed reduction of fishery catches in Community waters for 2004.

The Commission proposal is unacceptable for three reasons. Firstly, the massive cutback in catches and fishing effort which it proposes — which could lay up three hundred vessels and throw 3 500 fishermen out of work in Galicia — cannot be implemented by the industry without running the risk of full scale dismantling of the sector; as usual, it reflects the erratic, improvised and threatening form that Commission decisions on the fishing industry habitually take. Secondly, these proposals have been put forward without the requisite agreement or consensus being reached with the fishing industry itself, which is kept on the fringes of decision-making; the Commission actually fosters the pernicious gap between the fishermen and the scientists it maintains in positions of lofty bureaucratic arrogance. Thirdly, because the proposed cuts are being put forward at a time when fishing companies, like any other, have already planned their 2004 work schedule, it is impossible for them to amend their projections, while at the same time, they are being asked to slash catches by as much as 71 % in the case of certain species.

Furthermore, Commissioner Fischler's proposals reveal discriminatory treatment of different fleets, particularly with regard to the favourable treatment of the North Sea cod resources exploited by Denmark and the UK, and the negative treatment of species whose catches are of particular interest to the Galician fleet. What are the reasons behind the Commission's submission of this proposal? What reason is there for presenting, for the first time, a proposal for such massive cuts in the waters off Galicia and the Iberian peninsula? What are the fresh scientific reports apparently claiming to justify these measures? Why was no attempt made to find a package of measures which had the support of the fishing industry? Why is the Commission yet again, instead of making strict multiannual forecasts, insisting on irresponsibly putting forward its proposals for the following year in the month of December, thus wrecking all the projections made by those working in the industry? Is Commissioner Fischler, despite the firm opposition of the fishing industry, going to insist on implementing these negative measures?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(6 February 2004)

There is a firm scientific basis for the need to reduce total allowable catch (TACs). The biological situation for many demersal stocks in Community waters is very alarming and the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES) in its advice from October 2003 advised no fishing or very low quotas for a number of stocks including most of the cod and hake stocks, Norway lobster around the Iberian peninsula and sole in the Bay of Biscay and the western English Channel. This scientific advice is published as the ICES Cooperative Research Report, No 262 of December 2003.

When making its proposals for TACs and quotas for 2004, the Commission departed significantly from scientific advice in many cases, and proposed lower reductions in TAC than ICES had recommended. The Commission took account of the need of fishing industries to continue their fishing activities, and the proposal was constructed to balance those needs against the conservation requirements of the fisheries resources.

Representatives of the fishing industry were invited to discuss the scientific advice, the need to adapt TACs and the recovery plans for threatened stocks at regional workshops that were held in Brussels on 28/29 October 2003. The Commission took due account of the views expressed at that meeting when preparing its proposals.

The Commission proposes TACs on the basis of conservation needs while taking account of social and economic consequences but does not discriminate by geographic region. For 2003, fisheries ministers already agreed a number of very large reductions in TACs for stocks in the North Sea and adjacent waters for conservation reasons linked to the protection of cod. Consequently, generally smaller adaptations in TACs were required for these TACs for 2004 in the northern area than in the southern area. Nevertheless, some further large reductions (such as for cod to the west of Scotland) were still needed in northern areas.

The Commission views the Council's agreements concerning the recovery plans for cod and for hake as very positive for the stocks and for the fishing industries concerned. It also looks forward to the early adoption of recovery plans for southern hake, Bay of Biscay and Western Channel sole and Iberian Nephrops, which will also afford long-term benefits to the fishermen exploiting these stocks. Such long-term planning will reduce the need for changes at short notice within the fishing industry.