European Commissioner Maria Damanaki will represent the Commission at the Agriculture and Fisheries Council meeting in Luxemburg on 22-23 October. The Council will try to agree on the Commission’s Proposal on fishing opportunities for the Baltic Sea for 2013 and to reach a partial general approach on the Commission’s proposal on the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF).
The overall aim of the proposal is to make fisheries in the Baltic Sea environmentally and economically sustainable by managing them via scientific advice.
This year’s scientific advice indicates that the number of stocks managed at Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) level in the Baltic Sea might be increasing. If the proposed TACs are adopted, the number of stocks being fished at MSY level could go from three to six in 2013.
On scientific advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES) and the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF), the EC proposes higher TACs for sprat, plaice, and Central and Western herring; and wishes to reduce the TACs of the Eastern and Western Baltic cod, salmon, Gulf of Riga and Gulf of Bothnia herring, in response to the natural fluctuations of stocks and ensure MSY levels.
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) supports the scientific advice provided by ICES and STECF and calls on the Council to follow the European Commission’s proposal in setting fisheries quotas for the Baltic Sea for 2013, where it corresponds to the scientific advice. For vulnerable species such as the Baltic salmon, WWF advises to strictly follow ICES advice and MSY management objectives, said Sarunas Zableckis, European Marine & Fisheries Policy Officer, WWF European Policy Office.
Furthermore, it has been stated that the number of days at sea for fishing vessels was to stay the same.
At the meeting, Damanaki will explain how the EMFF ensures the long-term environmental, economic and social sustainability of European Union (EU) fisheries and the fishing communities that depend on them.
The new EMFF will help make possible the ambitious objectives of the Common Fisheries Policy reform and will help fishers transition towards sustainable fishing, as well as coastal communities diversify their economies. The fund will finance projects that create new jobs and improve quality of life along European coasts.
Red tape will be cut so that beneficiaries gain easy access to financing. This fund will replace the European Fisheries Fund (EFF) and other instruments.
The proposed envelope amounts to EUR 6.5 billion for 2014-20.
The Council will also exchange views with the Commission on the EU-Norway annual consultations for 2013 and on the upcoming annual meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), to be held in Morocco from 12-19 November.
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