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The European Commission proposed yesterday a new set of rules meant to revise the Union Fisheries Control System. Europêche, the representative body for fishermen and fishing vessel owners in the EU, agrees on the need to modernise and simplify the control and enforcement measures adopted back in 2009 as well as to ensure full compliance with the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). However, the European Commission (EC) pursues these objectives at the expense of the sector which will have to face extraordinary bureaucratic and economic burdens.
After tracking the satellite messages transmitting the position of 70.000 fishing vessels for the past 4 years, a group of researches [1] claim that commercial fishing covers over 55% of the ocean's surface. As a result, their study states that the area fished is four times bigger than the area occupied by agriculture in terms of square kilometres. Europêche argues that the study does not provide any new insight since fishing vessel monitoring systems have been widely implemented and enforced across the oceans for decades showing the exact location of our vessels to the competent authorities. In addition, the report is based on scientifically unsound data, overestimates the proportion of the seabed where fishing occurs and has little use for fisheries management.
El Tribunal de Cuentas Europeo (TCE) ha presentado hoy ante el Parlamento Europeo un informe especial titulado "Controles pesqueros de la UE: más esfuerzos necesarios". El informe examinó la eficacia del actual Reglamento de control de la pesca de la UE mediante la auditoría del sistema de control aplicado en cuatro Estados miembros clave (España, Francia, Italia y Reino Unido (Escocia)). El TCE llegó a la conclusión de que la UE aún no dispone de un sistema de control de la pesca suficientemente eficaz para apoyar la Política Pesquera Común (PPC). Europêche, si bien reconoce la posibilidad de mejorar, considera que el informe no refleja los progresos significativos realizados en materia de control y vigilancia pesquera en los últimos años ni representa la situación real en toda la Unión Europea.
La Cour des comptes européenne (CEA) a présenté aujourd'hui au Parlement européen un rapport spécial intitulé "Contrôles de la pêche de l'UE: plus d'efforts nécessaires". Le rapport a examiné l'efficacité du règlement actuel sur le contrôle des pêches de l'UE en vérifiant le système de contrôle mis en œuvre dans quatre États membres clés (Espagne, France, Italie et Royaume-Uni (Écosse)). La CEA a conclu que l'UE ne dispose pas encore d'un système de contrôle de la pêche suffisamment efficace pour soutenir la politique commune de la pêche (PCP). Europêche, tout en reconnaissant qu'il existe des domaines à améliorer, considère que le rapport ne reflète pas les progrès significatifs réalisés sur le contrôle et le suivi des pêches au cours des dernières années ni la situation actuelle dans l'ensemble de l'Union européenne.
The European Court of Auditors (ECA) presented today at the European Parliament a special report called "EU fisheries controls: more efforts needed". The report examined the effectiveness of the current EU fisheries Control Regulation by auditing the control system implemented in four key Member States (Spain, France, Italy and the UK (Scotland)). The ECA concluded that the EU does not yet have a sufficiently effective system of fisheries controls to support the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). Europêche, while recognising that there are areas for improvement, considers that the report does not reflect the significant progress made on fisheries control and monitoring over the last years nor represents the actual situation in the whole European Union.
• The so-called illegal fishing by EU vessels makes no sense in light of last week’s Compliance Committee in IOTC demonstrating the compliance of our fleet. • The report uses non-reliable data based on estimates and assumptions to unfairly accuse the EU tuna fleet of non-compliance with rules.