WRITTEN QUESTION P-0213/03

by Elspeth Attwooll (ELDR) to the Commission

(27 January 2003)

Subject: Protection of the Darwin Mounds

Discovered in 1998, the Darwin Mounds are a unique collection of cold-water coral mounds located approximately 185 km north-west of Cape Wrath in Scotland. These coral reefs are under ongoing threat of destruction with deep-water trawling having been identified as the principal threat to the integrity of the mounds. These reefs have take thousands of years to grow and any damage caused by deep-sea trawling could prove virtually irreparable. There is an immediate need for action to protect them.

The UK Government is in the process of formally designating this site as a Special Area of Conservation and has notified the Commission to this effect. This has taken and could still take, however, a considerable period of time to accomplish due to technical and legal issues. At the current rate of progress, with the main threat ongoing, there may be no reef left by the time it is designated.

Even after SAC designation, the Commission will be responsible for the management of fisheries activities under the CFP in this area, which should form part of the SAC management plan. It seems only logical that the Commission take emergency interim measures immediately to restrict fisheries activities in order to protect this important habitat. What action is the Commission taking now to address this immediate problem and to stop the damage caused by deep-water trawling, in the perspective of future SAC designation?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(14 February 2003)

It would seem inappropriate for the Commission to address at the Community level, on a case by case approach, the specific protection of some marine areas in view of their status as possible candidate areas for future designation as Special Area of Conservation (SAC) under the Habitats Directive(1). Such an initiative would be even more questionable if it were justified on the basis of a delay in national action due to the time needed for technical and legal clarifications. However, this does not mean that the issue cannot be dealt with at Community level at other stages of the process.

In the first place, given the importance of fisheries management for the future conservation of such marine areas, a formal proposal by the United Kingdom (UK) to include the Darwin Mounds within Natura 2000 is likely to act as an important trigger to motivate further management action involving the Community in relation to the protection of these areas from threats derived from activities such as fishing, that fall under the Community competence.

Moreover, the Commission is ready to consider any substantiated request from the UK government, that could justify emergency measures from the Commission on the basis of the possibilities provided for in Article 7 of Council Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002 on the Common Fisheries Policy(2). However, such Commission emergency measures cannot last more than six months (with the possibility for one extension only, for no more than six months).

Finally, the Commission is looking forward, as from 2003, to receiving scientific information on a broader European basis that would support at a later stage, proposals for the management of deep sea fisheries, possibly using local effort controls or closed areas or proposals for limiting the impact by fishing on the environment in accordance with Article 4 of the same Regulation.

(1) Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora, OJ L 206, 22.7.1992.

(2) Council Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002 of 20 December 2002 on the conservation and sustainable exploitation of fisheries resources under the Common Fisheries Policy, OJ L 358, 31.12.2002.