EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 78/850

(2004/C 78 E/0903)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3698/03

by Torben Lund (PSE) to the Commission

(10 December 2003)

Subject: Contravention of ban on fishing with drift nets and of the habitats directive

CNN's home page revealed on 24 November 2003 how dolphins are being killed in their ten thousands because fishermen in the Mediterranean area are using illegal drift nets. As well as dolphins, these drift nets are also killing sharks and turtles.

According to CNN, both Italian and French fishermen are contravening the ban on drift net fishing and therefore appear to be in breach of Council Regulation (EC) No 1239/98 of 8 June 1998 (1) amending Regulation (EC) No 894/97 (2) laying down certain technical measures for the conservation of fishery resources as well as Article 12(4) of the habitats directive.

Can the Commission state whether the CNN report is correct and, if so, what action it intends to take in the light of this information and when it intends to intervene? How does it consider that this information can be reconciled with existing EU legislation? What will the consequences be for a fisherman caught in the act of fishing with illegal drift nets and how does the Commission anticipate that fishermen in other countries will perceive these infringements and themselves be motivated to comply with the EU legislation?

According to CNN, there are at least 75 French vessels and at least 100 Italian ones fishing illegally with drift nets and it would be scandalous if the Commission were not to intervene immediately to save more dolphins from being killed.

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(21 January 2004)

We do not have detailed particulars of the CNN website presentation of 24 November 2003 to which the Honourable Member refers but have been told about use of drift nets in the Mediterranean by certain Community vessels. We are assessing the situation and have already been in contact with the relevant authorities.

Using drift nets to take certain migratory species is now an infringement of Community law. Fisherman doing so are therefore liable to administrative penalisation or criminal proceedings under the provisions that Member States are required to introduce by the Regulation on conservation and sustainable exploitation of fisheries resources under the Common Fisheries Policy and the Regulation establishing a control system applicable to the common fisheries policy (3).

It is not our business to comment on what view fishermen may take of infringements of Community law committed by other fishermen. We do all that we can to ensure that fishing is properly policed by the Member States. That applies not just to the prohibition on drift nets but to all the resource conservation and management rules.

(1) OJ L 171, 17.6.1998, p. 1.

(2) OJ L 132, 23.5.1997, p. 1.

(3) 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; Regulation (EC) No 2847/93 establishing a control system applicable to the common fisheries policy, OJ L 261, 20.10.1993, last amended by Council Regulation (EC) No 2846/98 of 17 December 1998, OJ L 358, 31.12.1998.