92001E0828

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0828/01

by Paulo Casaca (PSE) to the Commission

(19 March 2001)

Subject: Tuna fishing in the North Atlantic

Given that Commissioner Fischler has apparently had no opportunity to reply to the questions I put to him during the plenary session debate of 28 February 2001 concerning the Gallagher report (A5-0044/2001), on the EC-Equatorial Guinea Fisheries Agreement, I would now repeat these questions in writing.

In this agreement, as in any other EU agreement on North Atlantic tuna, has the Commission taken into account the possible impact on tuna stocks and fishing opportunities in areas such as the Azores and Madeira?

Is the Commission taking account of the impact of the use of encircling nets on protected species, such as dolphins and terrapins, when, as in this Agreement, it provides financial incentives to use such nets?

Is the Commission taking due account of the fact that in the last two years, the tuna harvest has tended to be in the Azores, to the detriment of fishermen and shipowners?

What measures does it intend to take in order to tackle this situation?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(10 May 2001)

The Commission thanks the Honourable Member for his question and would like to inform him that the conservation of tunas and tuna-like species in the Atlantic Ocean and its adjacent seas is the responsibility of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) of which the Community is an active member. ICCAT obligations apply in the context of fisheries agreements. Community representatives are steady supporters, within ICCAT, of strict measures to preserve tuna stocks in the area, and Portugal is also represented, namely through the internal Community co-ordination procedures.

The Community has been instrumental in the decision made by ICCAT that the use of Fishing Aggregating Devices in the Gulf of Guinea be forbidden for a three month period every year. This measure, which was already unilaterally applied by the Community ship owners in the past few years, should contribute to the safeguard of the stocks in the entire area and especially for the protection of juveniles of certain species.

As regards fishing in the waters of the Azores and Madeira, the Commission recalls that these activities are carried out within the quotas managed by Portugal in the ICCAT shares attributed to the Community.

Community vessels are submitted to a general ban or fishing over dolphins(1). As regards turtles, their by catch is subject to constant surveillance by the Scientific Committee of ICCAT.

(1) Council Regulation (EC) No 850/1998 of 30 March 1998 for the conservation of fishery resources through technical measures for the protection of juveniles of marine organisms (OJ L 125, 27.4.1998).