WRITTEN QUESTION E-2481/03 by Daniel Varela Suanzes-Carpegna (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Transferable fishing quotas.
Date: 2003-07-24
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: catch quota, common fisheries policy, fishing grounds, fishing rights

27.3.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 78 E/117

The Commission believes that the issue raised by the Honourable Member is no obstacle which would
have a measurable impact on European tourism in general, even if in individual cases,
it can cause
problems. But it also agrees that visitors should be provided with sufficient local information to make their
stay a pleasant one. However, due to the already mentioned lack of specific Community competence in the
sphere of tourism, it is largely up to national, regional and local authorities, and to the private sector and
civil society bodies, to make the relevant information available to tourists.

5.
Regarding practical Community measures specifically designed for favouring European tourism, the
Commission has outlined them in its Communication Working together for the future of European
tourism (1). Furthermore, comprehensive information to this end is publicly available at the Commission’s
special tourism website http://europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/services/tourism/index_en.htm.

(1) COM(2001) 665 final.

(2004/C 78 E/0118)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2481/03

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

Subject: Transferable fishing quotas

(24 July 2003)

When appearing before Parliament’s Committee on Fisheries on 10 June 2003, Commissioner Fischler
announced that the Commission would put forward a working paper on transferable fishing quotas in
Community waters before the end of the year.

Given this document’s importance for the future CFP:

1. Can the Commission provide more information on the matter?

2. Can it now give more precise dates for when the document might be available?

3.

Is the Commission considering its possible application in all the various fisheries, zones and fleets?

4. Will the Commission act on the suggestion made in Parliament and start introducing transferable

quotas by means of experimental or pilot projects?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(10 September 2003)

In its Communication on reform of the CFP (1) the Commission states its intention of examining the
economic aspects of fisheries management in the Union and to that end organising workshops with the
stakeholders in economic management and presenting a reflection paper looking in particular at the
question of individual and transferable fishing rights.

At the moment the Commission is engaged in consulting all stakeholders so that they can make their
experiences known to it. Widely varying management systems have been tried in Europe and elsewhere in
the world, individual fisheries are very diverse in nature and the constraints under which they operate are
not often comparable. Since the Commission wants discussion to be as wide, full and open as possible and
this year’s calendar is already very heavily laden it appears necessary to defer the report to 2004.

The Commission’s primary wish for its report on the economics of fishery management is that it should
contribute to the stakeholders’ reflections. It has no intention of advocating the use of any particular
management system. Its responsibility is to propose annual catch rates (total allowable catches) and quotas
but it has no authority to allocate these within countries or regions or to decide that experimental or pilot
projects for transferable quota systems should be run within Member States.

(1) Commission Communication to the Council and Parliament on reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (‘Roadmap’)

COM(2002) 181 final.