WRITTEN QUESTION E-2098/99

by Carmen Fraga Estévez (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(19 November 1999)

Subject: Failure of a Member State to comply with ICCAT recommendations on freezing the fishing effort

It is apparent from Commission Working Document SEC(1998) 447 of 17 March 1998 that, in 1997, the Irish fleet fishing for albacore (Thunnus alalunga) comprised 11 vessels using drift nets. However, according to the list which the Commission possesses of vessels authorised to fish for tuna with drift nets and other fishing gear, this year the said fleet grew in size to 18 vessels using drift nets and 16 using other gear. Besides amounting to a blatant breach of Regulation (EC) No 1239/98(1) aimed at abolishing drift nets, such an increase constitutes a gross violation of the ICCAT recommendation which the Commission undertook to honour, under which the fishing effort of fleets should not exceed that registered over the period 1993-1995. The fact that the Commission has not yet transposed the aforementioned recommendation into Community law does not free the EU Member States from their obligation to comply with it, as Mr Cavaco, former Director-General of DG XIV, made very clear in a notice on the NEAFC recommendations.

In view of the aforementioned facts, what does the Commission intend to do to prevent any further increase in the Irish fleet's fishing effort as regards stocks of albacore?

How does it intend to compel the said Member State to comply with Regulation (EC) No 1239/98 and the ICCAT recommendations, and what penalties does it envisage imposing on that Member State for repeatedly displaying such serious disregard for Community and international rules and placing albacore populations in peril, in breach of those recommendations?

When does it intend to transpose the ICCAT recommendations into Community law in order to prevent their absence from being used as a pretext for increasing the fishing effort?

(1) OJ L 171, 17.6.1998, p. 1.

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(9 December 1999)

The Honourable Member is requested to refer to the answers given to her Written Questions P-1537/99(1) and P-2067/99(2).

The Commission is in the process of drafting proposals for a Regulation to transpose the recommendations made by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) and other multilateral organisations that manage tuna stocks. The proposals are due to be adopted by the Commission in January 2000.

(1) OJ C 170 E, 20.6.2000.

(2) See page 82.