WRITTEN QUESTION E-2324/02

by Daniel Varela Suanzes-Carpegna (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(26 July 2002)

Subject: Distribution of fishing rights by Member State within Community waters

Will the Commission provide information regarding each Member State's current fishing rights within Community waters?

Will the Commission describe in detail the specific criteria which it followed for the purpose of granting each Member State fishing rights within Community waters?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(3 September 2002)

The Council fixes fishing opportunities and allocates them to Member States by fishery or group of fisheries, which are defined by the target species and the fisheries areas. For the definition of fisheries areas in most cases the fisheries statistical areas applied by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) and the Fishery Committee for the Eastern Central Atlantic Fisheries (CECAF) are used. Their limits do not correspond with those of the waters under sovereignty or jurisdiction of the Member States, which constitute the Community waters. Data on fishing opportunities broken down by the waters under sovereignty or jurisdiction of Member States do not exist. The Commission, therefore, regrets very much not to be in a position to provide the Honourable Member with the information requested. Nevertheless, the Commission would like to refer the Honourable Member to Council Regulation (EC) No 2555/2001 of 18 December 2001 fixing for 2002 the fishing opportunities and associated conditions for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks, applicable in Community waters and, for Community vessels, in waters where limitations in catch are required(1), which is the best source of information available in this matter.

Under the terms of Article 8(4) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 3760/92 of 20 December 1992, establishing a Community system for fisheries and aquaculture(2), it is incumbent upon the Council to determine the total allowable catch (TAC) by fishery or group of fisheries and to distribute the fishing opportunities between Member States in such a way as to assure each Member State relative stability of fishing activities for each of the stocks concerned. This is the legal basis of what is known as the principle of relative stability. In 1983, when establishing the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), the Council had specified the three criteria on which allocation of fishing opportunities should be based. They are: traditional fishing activities (historical catch records), special needs of regions where the local populations are particularly dependent upon fishing, and the loss of catch potential in third country waters as a result of the general extension of 200-mile limits. The Council also established for the majority of stocks the so-called keys of 1983. Since then, these keys have remained the basis for the allocation of fishing opportunities among Member States, even though additional fish stocks have been added to the list of those dealt with in 1983.

It should be pointed out to the Honourable Member that the Commission, in the context of its CFP reform proposals, proposed that a method of allocation for each stock be decided by the Council in order to make the application of the principle of relative stability more transparent(3).

(1) OJ L 347, 31.12.2001 also available on the Commission's web site http://europa.eu.int/comm/fisheries/doc.

(2) OJ L 389, 31.12.1992.

(3) See Commission Proposal for a Council Regulation on the conservation and sustainable exploitation of fisheries resources under the Common Fisheries Policy (COM(2002) 185 final), chapter IV, Article 20.