91997E1692

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1692/97 by Daniel Varela Suanzes-Carpegna (PPE) to the Commission (20 May 1997)

Subject: Counting days at sea as actual fishing days

As current Community law is applied, days at sea on the way to the various fishing grounds are counted as fishing days, which results in a substantial loss of actual fishing opportunities. For example, Spanish boats fishing in Zone VII of the ICES have to make an average journey of three days there and back, which means three licence days are lost on each trip.

What urgent steps does the Commission propose to take to solve this unfair and serious problem?

Answer given by Mrs Bonino on behalf of the Commission (17 June 1997)

Fishing effort is governed by Council Regulation (EC) No 685/95 of 27 March 1995 ((OJ L 71, 31.3.1995 )). The objective is to maintain the balance of resources within each fishing zone by preventing overall fishing efforts from increasing or securing any reduction dictated by the resource trend.

Fishing effort is defined as the product of a vessel's capacity and its activity and calculated by multiplying its power in kilowatts by the number of days spent in the zone.

The time taken to reach the zone covered by a fishing effort restriction thus has no bearing on calculation of effort. Only the total number of days spent in the zone, irrespective of the actual duration of fishing activity, counts.

The effort allowed for each fishery was assessed by Member States themselves and notified to the Commission. These assessments were published in Council Regulation (EC) No 2027/95 of 15 June 1995 ((OJ L 199, 24.8.1995 )).