FISHFILES LITE JUNE 2003

Megapesca Lda. Portugal

www.megapesca.com

 

 

Dear Colleague,

 

Fishfiles Lite is a free monthly newsletter summarizing key developments in EU fisheries and fish trade policy and legislation. The full text of all of the items below is available to subscribers to Megapesca's FishFiles Professional service

 

(http://www.megapesca.com/megashop/legis1.html).

 

The content of this newsletter is subject to a disclaimer at the foot of the page. If you do not wish to receive further editions of this newsletter, please follow the instructions at the foot of the page.

 

Common Fisheries Policy

 

  1. Revised import tariff quota regime for canned tuna from South East Asia.
  2. Commission publishes Member States' compliance with fishing regulations.
  3. Commission announces long term recovery plan for northern hake
  4. Council of Ministers is divided on recovery plans for hake, Nephrops and sole in “western waters”
  5. European Parliament calls for a clear “entry-exit” system for EU fishing vessels.
  6. Tariff elimination on EU-Bulgaria fish trade
  7. 2003 EU fish quota allocations to Member States amended
  8. The European Economic and Social Committee supports Mediterranean Fisheries Action Plan.
  9. The EU and Greenland initial the first of the new fisheries partnership agreements.
  10. Commission announces possibility of a social clause in fishery partnership agreements.
  11. EU and the Ivory Coast extend the current Fisheries Agreement.
  12. Sweden, Netherlands, and Spain exhaust fishing quotas.  Holland and Germany do a quota swap.
  13. UK aid scheme for Orkney and Shetland fishers found to be illegal; schemes for decommissioning of cod vessels and for buyback of some fishing licences are approved.
  14. Concern regarding economic hardship caused by blue whiting quota dispute in NEAFC area.
  15. Commission resists pressure to class Galicia as a special case of fisheries dependency
  16. Commission answers continuing EU subsidies of fishing effort.
  17. European Parliament questions international fishing effort reduction.
  18. Concern over loss of jobs due to health regulations applied to small scale clam fishers in France
  19. European Parliament questions links between sand eels and demersal fisheries. No evidence, says Commission.

 

Food and Fish hygiene

 

  1. Finally, the Commission starts to publish rapid alerts on rejected consignments of imported food. 23 alerts on fishery products in June
  2. Food and Veterinary Office of the Commission publishes third country inspection programme for fishery products.
  3. Commission reports on fishery products health conditions in Hong Kong. Some deficiencies; seeks guarantees.
  4. Commission reports on fishery products health conditions in Egypt. Some deficiencies; seeks guarantees.
  5. Commission reports on fishery products health conditions in Azerbaijan. A disaster area, but caviar allowed.
  6. Commission relaxes sampling and testing on shrimp and poultry consignments from Thailand.
  7. Commission publishes new list of aquaculture disease free zones and farms.
  8. New sampling plans and diagnostic published for ISA; ISA protective measures on salmon extended to gametes.
  9. New anti-parasitic agents permitted for application to farmed fish

 

 

Common Fisheries Policy

 

  1. Following a threatened WTO action, the EU has introduced a revised import tariff quota regime for canned tuna from Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and other South East Asian nations. It allows more imports at lower duty rates.

 

  1. The Commission has started to publish Member States' compliance with their obligations in a number of areas of the CFP. The first report includes the 2001 league table of regulatory infringements by nation, with Spain, Italy and Portugal at the top. Types of infraction are also defined by country.

 

  1. The Commission announced the intention to introduce a long term recovery plan for northern hake, involving reducing TACs and limiting fishing effort (days at sea).

 

  1. In a speech to fish industry representatives, the Commissioner for Fisheries explained the rationale behind the recovery plans for hake, Nephrops and sole in “western waters” (which will involve significant reduction of fishing opportunities. However, the Council of Ministers is divided and sent the proposals back to the Commission for more discussions at a technical level.

 

  1. The European Parliament passed a resolution on the need to improve fleet capacity management in line with resource availability, and calls for a clear “entry-exit” system for vessels.

 

  1. The Commission gave notice that the fishery product tariff reduction component of the EU-Bulgaria Association agreement is now operative (leading to tariff elimination over the next 3 years).

 

  1. The 2003 EU fish quota allocations to Member States have been amended, for herring, sand eel, haddock, Norway pout, blue whiting, mackerel, northern prawn. Fishing opportunities for EU and third country vessels under the reciprocal fisheries access agreements are also revised.

 

  1. The European Economic and Social Committee issued an opinion broadly supportive of the Commission’s proposals for a Mediterranean Fisheries Action Plan.

 

  1. The EU and Greenland have initialled a modified fisheries protocol (until December 2006) in line with the new policy on “fisheries partnership agreements”. It indicates how the partnerships will work.  The agreement will increase EU quotas for some species, and introduce new quotas. Experimental fisheries will be opened; EU vessel owners will have to pay licence fees. The EU compensation includes a component specifically allocated for structural reform of the Greenland fisheries sector.

 

  1. Following a question in the European Parliament, regarding the lack of a social clause in the EU third country fishery agreements the Commission announced that it is actively investigating this possibility within the context of the new fishery partnership agreements.

 

  1. The EU and the Ivory Coast will extend the current Fisheries Agreement to 30 June 2004, providing fishing possibilities to tuna seiners, surface longliners and  pole and line vessels as well as demersal fishery access. The EU contribution is EUR 1 million.

 

  1. Regulations were passed requiring stopping of fishing by some vessels from Sweden, Netherlands and Spain due to exhaustion of quota.  The stop fishing notice for blue whiting was modified for following a quota swap between Holland and Germany.

 

  1. The Commission has ruled as illegal a UK aid scheme which supported allocation of annual fish quotas for the benefit of the Orkney and Shetland fleets. However the Commission approved 2 UK state aid schemes, for decommissioning of Scottish cod vessels and for buyback of salmon fishing licences.

 

  1. The European Parliament expressed concern regarding economic hardship to EU fishers as a result of restriction of blue whiting catch quotas. The Commission has so far failed to reach agreement on quota allocation with Norway, Faroe and Iceland. Discussions at NEAFC continue.

 

  1. The European Parliament fielded yet another question pressing the Commission to consider Galicia as a special case of fisheries dependency, following the Prestige disaster. Commissioner Fischler indicated that the region’s needs are recognised by the special compensation scheme set up.

 

  1. The European Parliament questioned the Commission on the WWF allegations of continuing EU subsidies of fishing effort. In reply the Commission sets out the detailed case of funding allocated and used for capacity reduction and fleet renewal.

 

  1. The European Parliament questioned the “unilateral” reduction in fishing under CFP reform, in relation to other fishing “powers” such as China and Japan. Commission replies that there is no mandatory fleet reduction within the CFP, and it does not monitor third country policies.

 

  1. The European Parliament expressed concern about the economic impacts of health regulations applied to small scale clam fishers in France, resulting in closure of fishing grounds. The Commission advised sound resource management after they are re-opened, but consumer protection takes precedence.

 

  1. The European Parliament asked more questions regarding the potential impacts on demersal fisheries of record sand-eel catches in 2001. The Commission says again that there is no evidence of any clear linkages.

 

Food and Fish hygiene

 

  1. The Commission has started to publish the rapid alerts notified by Member States for failure of import consignments to comply with health standards for fishery products. During June some 23 alerts were published for fishery products. Amongst a wide range of rejected consignments, several EU suppliers seem to have difficulty meeting limits for cadmium in swordfish.

 

  1. The Food and Veterinary Office of DG Sanco announced the inspection programme for the second half of 2003. About 17 inspection visits are planned to third countries to check health conditions for fishery products exported to the EU. Three South East Asian countries are to be inspected for residue controls.

 

  1. An FVO Mission reported on health conditions for fishery products originating from Hong Kong. It found that EU health conditions are not applied, and internal communication between components of the inspection system is poor. The Commission has sought guarantees that deficiencies are redressed.

 

  1. An FVO Mission reported on health conditions for fishery products in Azerbaijan. It found non-compliance on almost every level; including non-compliant legislation, lack of nominated Competent Authority, variation in standard of approved establishments, weak HACCP systems, and no accredited laboratories. The report rather generously recommends remaining on List 2, but only for caviar. No comment from the Competent Authority.

 

  1. An FVO Mission reported on health conditions for fishery products in Egypt. The Commission seeks guarantees regarding a number of defects, including legislation, CA organisation, training of inspectors, and HACCP systems. Approval may only be granted for marine capture fisheries.

 

  1. The EU has further relaxed the requirements for sampling and testing export shrimp and poultry consignments from Thailand.

 

  1. The Commission has published a revised list of aquaculture disease free zones in the EU and disease free farms in infected zones with respect to VHS and IHN diseases of salmonids.

 

  1. The Commission revised the sampling plans and diagnostic methods for the detection and confirmation of infectious salmon anaemia (ISA), and has extended the ISA protective measures on salmon from Norway and Faeroes, to include gametes.

 

  1. Regulation 2377/90, which defines the list of active substances permitted for treatment of food animals was amended to allows the application of new antiparasitic agents some farmed fish species.

 

Disclaimer

 

Whilst we use our best efforts to provide accurate information in this newsletter, Megapesca is not responsible for the results of any inaccuracies or omissions which may be found to exist in the information provided, or any loss of profits or other consequential damages that may result from actions or omissions based on the information supplied. Readers are advised that only the European Union legislation published in the paper editions of the Official Journal of the European Communities is deemed authentic.