A4-0462/98

Resolution on the Commission working document 'Improving the implementation of the common fisheries policy: An action plan' (SEC(98)0949 - C4-0378/98)

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the Commission's working document (SEC(98)0949 - C4-0378/98),

- having regard to the communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament on fisheries monitoring under the common fisheries policy (COM(98)0092 - C4-0134/98) and its own resolution thereon of 18 September 1998 ((OJ C 313, 12.10.1998, p. 241.)),

- having regard to its resolution of 6 November 1997 on the common fisheries policy after the year 2002 ((OJ C 358, 24.11.1997, p. 43.)),

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Fisheries (A4-0462/98),

A. whereas the European Parliament had called for an action plan with a detailed timetable to correct the shortcomings detected in the monitoring procedures for the common fisheries policy,

B. whereas, although considerable progress has been made since the adoption of Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93 on fishery control ((OJ L 261, 20.10.1993, p. 1.)), there remain substantial weaknesses which should be remedied as soon as possible,

C. whereas it is unacceptable that there are Member States whose communication of the data which they are obliged to supply under Community law is minimal, and in some cases even non-existent,

D. whereas if fisheries control policy is not properly regulated and administered, honest fishermen are penalised and the industry's confidence in the institutions suffers,

E. having regard, in this connection, to the different treatment given to the Mediterranean under the Community rules, given that, while in the other Community waters vessels are subject to increasingly strict controls, including satellite controls, fleets in the Mediterranean are still exempt from such basic obligations as the keeping of logs and catch declarations,

F. whereas a standard classification of serious offences, drawn up by consensus, and a system of penalties based on uniform, comparable criteria are essential if there is to be acceptance and cooperation on the part of fishermen and vessel owners,

G. whereas responsible fishing necessitates a fair and equitable resources conservation policy, and its effective implementation requires control systems which aid and reinforce its promotion; whereas it is also essential that the Member States should apply compatible measures at the level of resources conservation policy,

H. whereas controls should relate to all the activities of the fisheries sector, with particular stress on the gear used, on minimum size by species and on those vessels having the greatest impact on fish stocks,

I. whereas if a tougher control policy is to succeed it will have to be integrated into and linked up with a much broader set of policies which must globally complement each other and be interdependent, and which must be implemented at the same time,

J. whereas the funding for developing any control system must be provided jointly from the Community budget and the budgets of the Member States, since the goal - to preserve the oceans and their resources - is obviously of general interest,

K. whereas effective cooperation between the fisheries control services of the Member States and between those services and the Commission must be stepped up,

L. whereas greater attention should be paid to the monitoring of fisheries products after their entry into the Community, whatever the means of transport used, and after initial sale, following the entire length of the marketing chain up to the end-consumer; the monitoring of fisheries products imported into the Community from third countries must also conform to the same criteria, particularly as regards EU health and hygiene regulations and sustainability of the resource,

1. Welcomes the action plan submitted by the Commission and finds it a further positive step towards a full response to Parliament's repeated requests;

2. Considers it vital in terms of efficiency that control measures should not be conceived as autonomous priorities in such a way as to overlook or relegate to second-class status the implementation of other policies which are equally crucial if the common fisheries policy is to be properly applied;

3. Considers it essential that there should be closer and more effective cooperation in monitoring and control activities between the Commission and the Member States and among the Member States, and that the Commission should take the initiative to ensure that this is the case; recalls, however, that the main responsibility for control lies with the competences and spheres of power of the Member States;

4. Welcomes the contents of the 'resources and effort' section of the Commission document, in the interests of the closer cooperation referred to in the previous paragraph; believes, however, that the Commission should be obliged to provide the same information concerning its own monitoring personnel to the Council and Parliament, in the context of its annual monitoring report;

5. Believes it is crucial to ensure the participation and cooperation of fishermen and producers' and vessel owners' organisations in the discussions on improving control policy, since without their acceptance and cooperation the practical effectiveness of measures and the requisite increase in transparency could be jeopardised;

6. Believes that any new system of controls must be based on reliable data enabling information to be processed correctly and contributing to greater transparency within the system;

7. Believes in this connection and given the need to promote stability in the industry, that it is essential to maintain the existing legislation on access to resources and to follow up its resolution of 15 May 1997 on international fisheries agreements ((OJ C 167, 2.6.1997, p. 130.)) and its aforementioned resolution of 6 November 1997 on the common fisheries policy after the year 2002;

8. Stresses the need to match fishing effort with resources, using a number of approaches not restricted to fleet reduction alone; considers, however, that whatever the arrangements adopted they should in all cases be accompanied by suitably distributed financial compensation, with vessel owners, fishermen, and, where justifiable, processors among the recipients, as well as by specific and flexible programmes for training and retraining and aid for reorientation and social integration; European Social Fund allocations for training and retraining should be substantially increased in the fisheries sector in the next Operational Programme and fisheries training standards should be harmonised across the Community;

9. Recalls, in this connection, that the MGPs III were not implemented in the same fashion by all the Member States and that unfair situations arose from this; stresses, therefore, that the MGPs IV must re-establish equality as between all Member States;

10. Stresses, once again, the need for harmonised criteria making it possible to compare the characteristics, size, capacity and productivity of the different Community fleets, evaluating their fishing efforts, examining the impact of modernisation and intensified, high-technology resource exploitation and taking the necessary measures of adaptation;

11. Calls for the expenditure arising from the improvement of controls to be fully and properly cofinanced, in the context of the necessary stepping-up of human resources and the introduction of new technologies, in particular via the generalisation of satellite control systems;

12. Considers it essential to undertake, in conjunction with other Community policies and in permanent cooperation with the Member States and international organisations, a plan for scientific research into the state and evolution of resources and the impact on them of fishing and the various existing types of pollution;

13. Calls on the Commission to ensure that both land and sea control measures are applied equitably and according to uniform standards of rigour, irrespective of the Member State carrying out the controls or the flag flown by the vessel under inspection;

14. Insists on tighter controls on third-country vessels fishing in Community waters, as regards both access to resources and landing and including vessels flying flags of convenience, with a view to re-establishing the trust of Community fishermen in the impartial application of controls;

15. Calls for closer cooperation among Member States and between Member States and the Commission, with a view to exercising the necessary controls over the marketing channels for fisheries products; considers it vital, in the context of this cooperation, to ensure the participation of producers' and vessel owners' organisations and fishermen's associations, and to create suitable support mechanisms to this end;

16. Believes that it is essential to step up the harmonisation of the provisions on the minimum size of species caught, with particular attention being paid to the landing and marketing of fry;

17. Urges the Commission to correct the existing imbalance between controls in Community waters and those in international waters;

18. Advocates greater recourse to certification and standardisation in respect of fisheries products landed and marketed in the EU, on the basis of origins, health conditions and production methods deemed acceptable in social and environmental terms; considers it necessary, in this connection, to ban the landing or marketing of products which do not meet the Union's minimum size requirements, preservation norms or hygiene standards;

19. Urges the Commission to submit proposals for stepping up post-landing controls on both EU and third-country fisheries products, whatever the means of transport used, via a system making it possible at all moments to ascertain the origin and situation of goods in the transportation process up to the final point of sale, and to prevent the marketing of fish not corresponding to the permitted sizes or landed illegally;

20. Calls for measures to be adopted with respect to third-country vessels to permit inspection and satellite controls when those vessels are fishing in Community waters;

21. Urges all the Member States, without exception, to undertake all control activities in full and to abide by their obligations in law as regards the duty to provide information in a usable form and in good time;

22. Considers, in this connection, that the paucity of data provided, even today, by certain Member States makes it impossible to operate a proper monitoring policy for their fleets; calls, accordingly, for consideration to be given to introducing some form of penalisation where information is repeatedly withheld;

23. Believes the Commission should continue to produce an annual report on monitoring giving greater detail than a strictly factual assessment, and including sufficient analysis to demonstrate where immediate remedial action is needed;

24. Advocates greater use of information and communications technology in the control process, including the use of satellites, to reduce the inefficiencies arising from a largely paper-based system;

25. Calls on the Commission to draw up proposals to ensure that uniform penalties are imposed on fishermen throughout the Union for the same offences of a serious nature and to submit, using its powers of initiative and without further delay, proposals for a uniform system of disciplinary measures and penalties to be applicable to all the Member States;

26. Calls on the Commission to give priority to the development and financing of programmes for the exchange of inspectors between the administrations of Member States and between Member States and the Community's fisheries administration, with a view to building up a common body of opinion on the nature and conduct of inspections; calls, furthermore, for the establishment of training and specialisation systems which are compatible and suitable for mutual recognition as between the different administrations;

27. Calls for closer cooperation as regards information and databases between the different national administrations and between those administrations and the Commission, together with measures to ensure the confidentiality of data;

28. Is concerned, despite welcoming the initiative, at the contents of the list of pilot schemes set out in section III-2 of the Commission document, since it is excessively biased towards monitoring in certain areas, while completely neglecting others in which cooperation in inspection is equally necessary; suggests, in this connection, the inclusion of a pilot scheme for fisheries in the Mediterranean;

29. Urges the Commission, as a matter of urgency, to draw up a code of conduct on inspection procedures;

30. Regrets the fact that, with regard to the timetable for the studies to be undertaken by the end of 1999 (see same section of Commission document), contrary to what is affirmed in that section, no Commission study was published in 1998 on the adaptation of the format of administrative documents (daily fishing logs and landing and sales forms) to the Mediterranean context or to specialist fisheries (e.g. tropical tuna); calls on the Commission, for 1999 and with specific reference to adaptation to the Mediterranean, to ensure that the studies referred to in its document have been carried out and to submit a proposal to the Council for the amendment of Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93, eliminating the exemption referred to in its Article 40, third paragraph;

31. Considers that the same should also apply to section VII of the Commission document ('summary timetable for 1998 and 1999'); while not opposing further action to introduce improved control measures, draws the Commission's attention to the fact that the rules for the different areas are tending to move further apart, and to the inconsistency arising from the fact that while there are vessels subject to monitoring of all kinds, including satellite controls, in fishing-grounds as sensitive as those in the Mediterranean there is not even an obligation to keep a log;

32. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the governments of the Member States.