WRITTEN QUESTION P-3401/98

by Carmen Fraga Estévez (PPE) to the Commission

(9 November 1998)

Subject: Justification for the minimum landing size for swordfish in the Mediterranean

Annex IV of Council Regulation 1626/94(1) sets the minimum landing size for swordfish (Xiphias gladius) in the Mediterranean at 120 cm. This size corresponds with the ICCAT recommendation for the Atlantic. However, the ICCAT has made no recommendations regarding minimum landing sizes for swordfish in the Mediterranean and there is a great body of opinion within scientific circles, which is backed up the experiences of the fisheries sector, that this minimum size is excessive for the Mediterranean. In fact, it is proven that the Mediterranean swordfish stock is completely different to that in the Atlantic. This difference is reflected inter alia in the fact that the Mediterranean swordfish constitutes a stock of smaller fish reaching sexual maturity at a much earlier age.

For this reason and with a view to maintaining the coherence of stock management measures in the Mediterranean on the one hand and not to unnecessarily jeopardise the activities of the fisheries sector on the other hand, can the Commission explain the reasons and the biological data which led to the establishment of a minimum landing size of 120 cm for swordfish in the Mediterranean?

Answer given by Mrs Bonino on behalf of the Commission

(2 December 1998)

The minimum landing size for swordfish in the Mediterranean, as laid down in Council Regulation (EC) 1626/94 of 27 June 1994 laying down certain technical measures for the conservation of fishery resources in the Mediterranean, was implemented in order to stop the decreasing trend in the average sizes of swordfish caught in the Mediterranean. At the time of the adoption of the above regulation, it was already obvious that catches of juvenile swordfish in the Mediterranean were increasing to excessive levels, and that the average size of individuals landed was decreasing dramatically. In these circumstances, although there was no specific recommendation from the International commission for the conservation of tunas (ICCAT) for Mediterranean swordfish, the Commission considered that the establishment of the minimum landing size already applicable to the Atlantic would be an important first step to stop the trend mentioned above.

At the recent ICCAT General fisheries council for the Mediterranean (GFCM) joint scientific meeting on large pelagics in the Mediterranean (Genoa, 7-12 September 1998), the problems associated with the catch of juvenile swordfish in the Mediterranean were discussed. It was generally agreed that catches of juvenile swordfish are excessive and should be reduced. However, it was also felt that the 120 centimetres minimum landing size might not be the most appropriate measure, both in terms of the biological features of the Mediterranean swordfish stock and in terms of the applicability of that measure. For this reason, the joint ICCAT/GFCM working group proposed to study possible alternative measures for the protection of juvenile swordfish in the Mediterranean. In the light of the possible alternative measures to be suggested by the ICCAT and GFCM scientists in future meetings, the Commission will consider possible appropriate initiatives in this regard.

(1) OJ L 171, 6.7.1994, p. 1.