At the Council of Fisheries meeting on 26th of February, following a long and challenging set of negotiations, I successfully brokered the political agreement of the EU Fisheries Council for the introduction of a Europe wide discards ban. The Council general approach allows for some practical measures that will support the effective implementation of the discards ban. In relation to de-minimis, it provides that the de-minimis exemption shall apply in specific situations such as: i) where scientific evidence indicates that increases in selectivity are very difficult to achieve; or ii) to avoid disproportionate costs of handling unwanted catches, for those fishing gears where unwanted catches per fishing gear do not represent more than a certain percentage, to be established in the plan, of total annual catch of that gear.
This exemption
shall not exceed a total of 7% of the total annual catches of the species concerned. But for a transitional period of four years the percentage of the total annual catches referred to under de-minimis shall increase: (i) by two per cent (to 9%) in the first two years of application of the landing obligation; and (ii) by one per cent(to 8%) in the subsequent two years. The European Parliaments position which is set down in its First Reading (6 February 2013) does not provide for a de-minimis option. A first round of trilogues with Parliament and the European Commission took place on the Basic Regulation on the 19th of March. As Presidency, we have in place a schedule of further trilogues planned over the coming weeks with the aim of having political agreement by the end of June.
