WRITTEN QUESTION E-2282/03 by Elspeth Attwooll (ELDR) to the Commission. Fishing opportunities.
Date: 2003-07-09
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: United Kingdom, exclusive economic zone, fishery management, fishing controls, fishing rights, fishing statistics

13.3.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 65 E/125

(2004/C 65 E/138)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2279/03

by Koenraad Dillen (NI) to the Council

(9 July 2003)

Subject: Sentencing of two journalists in Laos

Today, 30 June 2003, the media were shocked to learn that the independent Belgian journalist Thierry
Falise, his French photographer, Vincent Reynaud, and their American interpreter, all three of whom were
arrested in Laos on 4 June 2003, have been sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment for ‘illegal possession of
arms’ and ‘obstruction of a public official’ after a show trial in which no legal principle was guaranteed.

Thierry Falise was preparing a report on the Hmong minority, who are resisting the totalitarian communist
regime in Laos.

Has the Council condemned this?

Has the Council taken any diplomatic steps vis-à-vis the authorities in Vientiane? With what results? What
pressure can the Council bring to bear to have this sentence lifted as quickly as possible?

Would it not be desirable to bring pressure to bear on the regime in Vientiane via the authorities in
Beijing, bearing in mind that Laos particularly looks to China for support?

Reply

(17 November 2003)

1.
The Council has been as worried as the Honourable MEP over the arrest and the subsequent
sentencing to 15 years of imprisonment of the Belgian journalist Thierry Falise, the French photographer
Vincent Reynaud and their American interpreter. The Council has, however, not taken official diplomatic
action towards the Laotian government in order not to interfere in the then ongoing bilateral efforts of the
French and Belgian governments, which were seeking the release of the journalists.

The Council

2.
journalists have been released in early July 2003.

is satisfied to note that these bilateral efforts have been successful and that the

(2004/C 65 E/139)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2282/03

by Elspeth Attwooll (ELDR) to the Commission

(9 July 2003)

Subject: Fishing opportunities

Can the Commission provide any information on the level of fishing opportunities used by British fishers
both within 200 miles of the British coast and beyond 200 miles?

Furthermore, could the Commission provide any information on the level of fishing opportunities used by
other EU fishers within 200 miles of the British coast and by non-EU fishers within that same area?

C 65 E/126

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

13.3.2004

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(12 August 2003)

The Commission does not have the means of producing the information requested.

The Control Regulation (1) (EEC Council Regulation No 2847/93) sets for each Member State the obligation
to notify to the Commission the quantities of each stock or group of stocks landed during the preceding
month, when the concerned stocks are subject to total allowable catch (TAC) or quotas. For other stocks
(not subject to TAC or quotas and caught either in Community waters, in third countries’ waters or on the
high seas) Member States have the obligation to notify to the Commission the quantities landed of each
stock quarterly. This allows the Commission to monitor the level of fishing opportunities used by Member
States.

The notifications of landings received from Member States do not distinguish between catches made within
200 miles of one Member State’s coast and those made beyond, as they are based on the areas established
by the TAC and quota Regulation.

The fishing or catch areas defined by this Regulation correspond, in general, to entire International Council
for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) divisions or subdivisions or to fishing areas as defined by Food and
Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) for statistical purposes. They are not established
following the line of the 200 miles.

(1) Council Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93 of 12 October 1993 establishing a control system applicable to the common

fisheries policy, OJ L 261, 20.10.1993.

(2004/C 65 E/140)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2283/03

by Elspeth Attwooll (ELDR) to the Commission

(9 July 2003)

Subject: Development of cod nurseries

Has the Commission considered the possible benefits of rearing cod, produced from the spawn of wild
cod, in nurseries for release into the sea? What plans does the Commission have to promote research into
the feasibility and the implications, both positive and negative, of such a practice?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(1 August 2003)

The rearing of cod in nurseries for release into the sea may have different objectives: sea ranching,
i.e. releasing cod into the sea in areas where there are none or very small natural cod resources, stock
enhancement, i.e. trying to improve existing cod populations, and stock recovery, i.e. helping depleted
stocks to recover.

Historically, interest has focused on stock enhancement and a few attempts have been made, mainly in
Norway. At the marine biological station near Arendal in southern Norway there is a 100 year long
history of releasing reared cod. The experience from this was summed up in an international symposium
in 1993 and it was concluded that there were no measurable benefits. A workshop organised by the
International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) in 1994 (‘Workshop to evaluate the potential of
stock enhancement as an approach to fisheries management’), partly funded by the Commission, concluded
that stock enhancement of cod in general was unlikely to be successful. This workshop also evaluated a
proposal from Canada to rear cod to restore the depleted Newfoundland stock, but the conclusions were
negative also in this respect.