WRITTEN QUESTION E-3455/03 by Elspeth Attwooll (ELDR) to the Commission. Community Action Plan to protect seabirds from longline fishing.
Date: 2003-11-20
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: action programme, bird, common fisheries policy, fishing regulations, protection of animal life

C 78 E/552

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

27.3.2004

(2004/C 78 E/0587)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3455/03

by Elspeth Attwooll (ELDR) to the Commission

(20 November 2003)

Subject: Community Action Plan to protect seabirds from longline fishing

What urgency is the Commission giving to fulfilling its commitment in the reform of the CFP to propose
legislation before the end of this year to implement its Community Action Plan to protect seabirds from
longline fishing in the context of the FAO International Plan of Action?

Will the Commission propose such legislation without further delay and present a finalised plan to the
next session of FAO-COFI in 2005?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(8 January 2004)

As the Honourable Member might be aware, the Community already presented a draft preliminary action
plan to protect seabirds from longline fishing at the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Committee
in 2001. The FAO action plan does not foresee any specific calendar. However, the Commission would
like to present the follow-up of the draft preliminary plan to the next Committee on Fisheries (COFI) in
2005. For this purpose, the Commission will have to work further with Member States, as the protection
of seabirds is a shared competence with Member States.

As the Honourable Member must also know, the incidental catches of seabirds constitute a threat within
Community waters for several birds included in Annex I of the Directive 79/409/EEC (1).

However, the main problems seem to be caused by non-Community vessels fishing either in international
waters or in their own waters. The Community has no direct legal power to control the activities of non-
Community vessels in these areas.

The main concerns related to albatrosses and other species, essentially in the Southern Oceans.

To tackle those problems, the Community has already incorporated the following mitigation measures into
Community legislation (2):

(cid:1) Using bird-scaring line with plastic streamers attached;

(cid:1) Weighting the lines so that they sink faster and pose less risk;

(cid:1) Prohibiting the discharge of offal at sea, which attracts seabirds to the lines;

(cid:1) Setting the longlines at night, when albatrosses and other seabirds are less likely to be foraging;

(cid:1) Using only thawed bait.

These measures, which are compulsory for Community fishing companies, have been drawn up by the
Council for the Conservation of Antarctic Maríne Living Resources (CCAMLR), which deals with Antarctic
waters, and of which the Community is a contracting party.

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Official Journal of the European Union

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As the Community is already implementing this Community Regulation, new legislation to protect seabirds
from longline fishing before 2004 is not currently foreseen.

Furthermore, based on a Community initiative, the International Commission for the Conservation of
Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) has adopted the recommendation 02-14 related to seabirds protection. This is
indeed the first measure in the ICCAT area to tackle this matter.

(1) Council Directive 79/409/EEC of 2 April 1979 on the conservation of wild birds, OJ L 103, 25.4.1979.
(2) Council Regulation (EC) No 2479/98 of 12 November 1998 amending Regulation (EC) No 66/98 laying down

certain conservation and control measures applicable to fishing activities in the Antarctic, OJ L 309, 19.11.1998.

(2004/C 78 E/0588)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3456/03

by Adriana Poli Bortone (UEN) to the Commission

(20 November 2003)

Subject: Cofinancing of NGOs

The Commission has made provision to reduce the allocation of resources for cooperation on poverty
from EUR 199,9 million in 2003 to 193,8 million in 2004. In 2002 the Commission selected as ‘good
projects’ only 20 % out of a maximum of 50 % which it could have financed. Can the Commission say
which NGOs obtained funding, under what budget lines, what projects were completed and what short- or
long-term term results were achieved?

Answer given by Mr Nielson on behalf of the Commission

(22 December 2003)

The results of calls for proposals are published on EuropeAid’s website at: http://europa.eu.int/comm/
europeaid/projects/ong_cd/index_en.htm

The list gives the beneficiary’s name, the project title and the beneficiary country. A list of operations
cofinanced in the developing countries in 2002 under line B7-6000 is being sent direct to the Honourable
the
Member and to Parliament’s Secretariat.
EUR 199,9 million available under line B7-6000.

In 2002, EUR 199,2 million was committed out of

Each budget line is governed by a regulation specifying the eligible beneficiaries which can only be non-
governmental organisations (NGOs) (e.g. B7-6000) or non-profit organisations which are not necessarily
NGOs (e.g. B7-6002).

Operations cofinanced with NGOs under B7-6000 are monitored. The last monitoring report of about a
hundred operations highlighted their quality in terms of results and sustainability. The final payment of the
Community contribution is subject to approval of a final report consisting of a technical part, which
usually contains the evaluation results, and a financial part, including an external audit report.

the Commission carried out an overall evaluation of

line B7-6000. While pointing to
In 2000,
impact of the line owing to the diversity of operations, NGOs and its
shortcomings in the overall
geographical coverage,
the majority of operations
cofinanced. It can be read on the Internet at the following address: (http://europa.eu.int/comm/europeaid/
evaluation/program/otherrep.htm).

the evaluation recognised the positive results of