Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the Proposal for a Council Regulation concerning the establishment of a Community framework for the collection, management and use of data in the fisheries sector and support for scientific advice regarding the Common Fisheries Policy COM(2007) 196 final — 2007/0070 (CNS)
Date: 2007-09-26
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: common fisheries policy, confidentiality, data collection, fishery management, information processing

15.1.2008

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

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Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the ‘Proposal for a Council Regulation
concerning the establishment of a Community framework for the collection, management and use
of data in the fisheries sector and support for scientific advice regarding the Common Fisheries
Policy’

COM(2007) 196 final — 2007/0070 (CNS)

(2008/C 10/14)

On 1 June 2007, the Council decided to consult the European Economic and Social Committee, under
Article 37 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the abovementioned proposal.

The Section for Agriculture, Rural Development and the Environment, which was responsible for preparing
the Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 6 September 2007. The rapporteur was
Mr Sarró Iparraguirre.

At its 438th plenary session, held on 26 and 27 September 2007 (meeting of 26 September), the European
Economic and Social Committee adopted the following opinion by 150 votes to 1, with 4 abstentions.

1. Conclusions and recommendations

Commission should spell out what data it will need and who
will collect it.

The Committee broadly welcomes the proposal

1.1
regulation.

for a

1.2
The EESC harbours doubts as to whether the proposed
regulation genuinely represents a ‘simplification’ of the regu-
lation currently in force that could help to reduce the adminis-
trative burden, both for Member States and the parties
concerned.

1.3
The Committee considers that the European Commis-
sion's definition of ‘end-users’ is vague, because it could poten-
tially apply to any individual. The EESC therefore suggests that
the Commission amend this definition, making it much more
precise.

The EESC considers that collecting data that enables an
1.9
assessment to be made of
the degree of species interaction
would be difficult and therefore proposes that this point be
deleted.

1.10 With regard to the management and use of the primary
data that is collected, the Committee wishes to emphasise the
importance of everyone with access to these data under the
proposed regulation treating them as confidential.

The Committee considers that it would be practically
1.11
impossible to start Community and national programmes in
2008, and therefore recommends that the Commission launch
them in 2009.

1.4
The EESC considers that environmental data should be
collected primarily by means of surveys-at-sea carried out by
the Member States, as part of scientific fisheries programmes.

2. Explanatory statement

1.5
The Committee considers that the Commission should
further clarify the grounds for non-compliance leading to penal-
ties being imposed on the Member States and should amend the
financial corrections.

2.1
The systematic collection of reliable basic data on fish-
eries is a cornerstone of fish stock assessment and scientific
advice, and consequently of critical importance for the imple-
mentation of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP).

1.6
The EESC calls on the Commission to delete the refer-
ence to the unrestricted access of economic data samplers to
business premises because of the legal problems that this may
entail.

The EESC believes that the Commission should expressly
1.7
provide for Member State funding of observer-at-sea schemes
and that self-sampling programmes, which would be carried out
by crew members, are kept to the absolute minimum, because
they could result in an excessively heavy workload.

1.8 With regard to assessing the impact of fishing activity on
the environment, the Committee considers that the European

2.2
The Commission has carried out a review of the current
system introduced by the framework regulation for the collec-
tion of data (1) following several years of its implementation and
considers that it needs to be reviewed in order to take due
consideration of a fleet-based approach towards
fisheries
management, the need to develop an ecosystem approach, the
need for improved quality, completeness and broader access to
fisheries data, more efficient support for provision of scientific
advice and the promotion of cooperation among Member
States.

(1) Council Regulation (EC) No 1543/2000 of 29 June 2000 establishing a
Community framework for the collection and management of the data
needed to conduct the common fisheries policy (OJ L 176, 15.7.2000)
and the other regulations in the field of the collection and management
of data on fisheries.

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It is therefore presenting the proposal (2) under consid-
2.3
eration here with the aim of developing long-term, well-inte-
grated regional
covering biological,
economic, environmental and social data that meet new
demands generated by the need to move towards fisheries
management and towards the ecosystem approach to fisheries
management.

sampling programmes

2.4
The proposal claims that the new data collection system
will cover the entire process, from the collection of the data at
sea to its use by the end-users. Furthermore,
it innovatively
provides for a) the collection of environmental data, with the
aim of monitoring the impact of fishing activity on the marine
ecosystem, b) a financial penalty for Member States that fail to
comply with the rules, c) improvements in access to data and
their use and d) a reduction in the administrative burden for all
parties concerned (simplification).

catches of cetaceans and conditions applicable to deep sea
fishing, which should be taken into account in the proposed
regulation if a comprehensive and coherent system of data
collection is to be established.

3.6
The Committee broadly welcomes the proposal. Never-
theless, it is concerned to note the steady increase in regulation
by the Community, which adds to the administrative burden. In
this case, the EESC harbours doubts as to whether the proposed
regulation genuinely represents a ‘simplification’ of the regu-
lation currently in force that could help to reduce the adminis-
trative burden, both for Member States and the parties
concerned.

3.7
The EESC is also pleased to note that the proposal places
great emphasis on the environmental aspects of fishing activities
and that it could provide the data needed to apply an ecosystem
approach to fisheries management.

3. General comments

3.1 With a view to improving scientific advice, the proposal
in the
establishes rules on the collection and management,
framework of multiannual programmes, of biological, environ-
mental, economic and social data concerning the fisheries sector
and the use, in the framework of the CFP, of these data.

3.2
These basic data on fisheries should help to assess the
activity of the different fishing fleets, draw up summaries using
data collected under other Community provisions on the CFP,
calculate the total volume of catches and discards per stock by
commercial vessel segment, classify catches by geographical area
and time period, estimate the abundance and distribution of fish
stocks, evaluate the impact of fishing activities on the environ-
ment, assess the fisheries sector's socio-economic situation, facil-
itate monitoring of the prices of Community vessels' landings
and of imports and evaluate the industry's economic and social
situation.

Funding for these activities is provided for under Council
3.3
Regulation (EC) No 861/2006 of 22 May 2006 establishing
Community financial measures for the implementation of the
common fisheries policy and in the area of the Law of the
Sea (3), on which the Committee has already delivered an
opinion (4).

3.4
The proposal attaches particular importance to quality
control and validation of the data collected, and considers that
the Community financial contribution should be made condi-
tional on quality control and compliance with agreed quality
standards.

3.5
Other Community regulations cover the collection and
management of fisheries data and include provisions on the
collection and management of data relating to fishing vessels,
their activities and catches, and on price monitoring, incidental

(2) COM(2007) 196 final, of 18.4.2007.
(3) OJ L 160, of 14.6.2006.
(4) NAT/280 — CESE 1490/2005 — OJ C 65, of 17.3.2006.

4. Specific comments

The regulation starts by defining a number of key
4.1
concepts, such as the fisheries sector, recreational
fisheries,
marine regions, primary data, detailed data, aggregated data,
fleet-based sampling, Community fishing vessels and end-users.
The EESC considers that the term ‘end-users’ is vague, because it
refers to ‘natural or legal persons or organisations with an
interest in the scientific analysis of data concerning the fisheries
sector’. The Committee is of the view that, under this definition,
anybody could be an end-user. It therefore suggests that the
European Commission amend its definition, making it much
clearer who the real end-users are.

4.2 With regard to data collection,
draw up a multiannual Community programme covering:

the Commission will

— commercial

fisheries carried out by Community fishing

vessels within and outside Community waters;

— recreational fisheries carried out within Community waters;

— aquaculture activities carried out within the territories of the

Member States and Community waters;

— industries processing fisheries products.

4.3 Member States will draw up a national data collection
programme in accordance with the Community programme,
which will include the procedures and methods to be used in
collecting and analysing data and in estimating their accuracy
the national programmes will
and precision.
include:

In particular,

— national sampling programmes;

— a scheme for observers-at-sea, where necessary;

— a scheme for surveys-at-sea.

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4.4
The Commission proposal states that Community and
national programmes will be drawn up to cover a three-year
period. The first programmes are due to cover the period from
2008 to 2010. The Committee considers that it would be prac-
tically impossible for the programmes to start in 2008, and
therefore recommends that
this
provision as of 2009.

the Commission implement

4.5 Member States will coordinate their national programmes
with other Member States in the same marine region and make
every effort to coordinate their actions with third countries
having sovereignty or jurisdiction over waters in the same
marine region, as occurs in the regional fisheries organisations.

The Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for
4.6
Fisheries (STECF) will evaluate the national programmes, any
changes to these programmes and the scientific relevance of the
data to be collected. The Commission will approve the national
programmes on the basis of the evaluation by the STECF.

The Committee approves of

4.7
the plan to collect and
manage data under multiannual programmes. It wishes to point
out to the Commission, however, that its proposal gives no indi-
cation of the impact that fisheries data collection will have on a
vessel's daily work,
in particular the impact of the fisheries
sector's activities on the environment. The EESC therefore
considers that environmental data should be collected primarily
by means of surveys-at-sea carried out by the Member States as
part of scientific fisheries programmes.

Innovatively, the Commission states that, unless the rules
4.8
set out in the regulation are fully respected, it could sanction
Member States by reducing and even suspending financial assis-
tance for their national programmes. The Committee considers
this to be a sound proposal and trusts that the Member States
will comply with their obligations in order to avoid penalties.
Nevertheless,
it believes that the Commission should further
clarify the grounds for non-compliance leading to penalties
being imposed on the Member States and should amend the
financial corrections.

As

4.9
programmes will include:

referred to in point 4.3, multi-annual sampling

— a sampling design for biological data following fleet-based
sampling including, where appropriate, recreational fisheries;

— a sampling design for ecosystem data that permits the
degree of species interactions and the impact of the fisheries
sector on the environment to be estimated;

— a sampling design for economic and social data that permits
the economic situation of the fisheries sector to be assessed.

required studies to assess the environmental effects of fishing
activities and the socio-economic situation in the sector.

4.11
ensure that,
access to:

The Commission states that Member States should
in order to carry out their duties, samplers have

— all

landings,

including as appropriate, transhipments and

transfers to aquaculture;

— business premises for the collection of economic data.

4.12
The EESC wishes to draw the Commission's attention to
the legal difficulties inherent in granting samplers unrestricted
access to business premises in order to collect economic data. It
therefore calls on the Commission to delete this point.

Lastly,

fisheries data collection under

the national
4.13
programmes will
involve a) observer-at-sea schemes where
necessary for the purposes of collecting data and b) scientific
surveys at sea to evaluate the abundance and distribution of
stocks, independently of the data provided by commercial fish-
eries and to assess the impact of fishing activity on the environ-
ment.

4.14
The EESC considers both of these schemes to be neces-
sary to complement the fisheries data collection framework, and
believes that the Commission should specifically provide for the
financing — via the Member States — of observer-at-sea
schemes. The Committee would like to point out
to the
Commission that when observers-at-sea cannot board fishing
vessels due to an obvious lack of space or for safety reasons, the
self-sampling schemes that crew-members are supposed to carry
out could result in an excessively heavy workload.

4.15 With regard to assessing the impact of fishing activity
on the environment, the Committee considers that the European
Commission should spell out what data it will need and who
will collect it.

The regulation provides that Member States will be
4.16
responsible for the safe storage in computerised databases and
the confidentiality of the primary data collected; Member States
will also be responsible for the quality and completeness of the
primary data collected and of the detailed and aggregated data
derived from the primary data.

4.17
these
The Committee considers it appropriate that
responsibilities should fall to the Member States, because confi-
dentiality is of the utmost importance to fishing enterprises.

Data confidentiality is of

4.18
importance,
because national computer databases will contain all primary
data collected under:

the utmost

4.10
The Committee reiterates the comments made in its
opinion on Regulation (EC) No 861/2006, in which it consid-
ered that, in order to improve fisheries management, financing
should also be provided, via the Member States, for expenditure
the
incurred by the EU fishing sector in order to conduct

— Regulation (EEC) No 2847/1993 establishing a control

system applicable to the common fisheries policy;

— Regulation (EC) No 779/1997 introducing arrangements for

the management of fishing effort in the Baltic Sea;

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— Regulation (EC) No 104/2000 on the common organisation

of the markets in fishery and aquaculture products;

— Regulation (EC) No 2347/2002 establishing specific access
requirements and associated conditions applicable to fishing
for deep-sea stocks;

— Regulation (EC) No 812/2004 laying down measures

concerning incidental catches of cetaceans in fisheries.

And under this regulation they will contain:

— data on vessels' activity based on information from satellite

monitoring and other monitoring systems;

— data on the total volume of catches per stock by commercial
vessel segment, including discards and, where appropriate,
data regarding catches in recreational fisheries;

— biological data needed to monitor the status of exploited

stocks;

— ecosystem data needed to evaluate the impact of fishing

activities and aquaculture on the environment;

— data to evaluate the degree of species interactions; and

— economic and social data from the fleet sector and the

processing industries.

Brussels, 26 September 2007.

the degree of species interactions,

4.19 With regard to the data enabling an evaluation to be
made of
the Committee
considers that, given their ambiguity and vagueness, an evalua-
tion of this nature is not possible and should, therefore, be
deleted.

4.20 Member States will process the primary data into data
sets of detailed or aggregated data in accordance with relevant
international standards and protocols agreed at region level and,
by means of agreements with the Commission, will make them
available to the Commission and to the appropriate scientific
bodies.

4.21 Member States will transmit detailed and aggregated
data in a secure electronic format.

4.22 Member States may refuse to transmit
the relevant
detailed and aggregated data only if there is a risk of natural
persons and/or legal entities being identified or in cases where
an end-user fails to comply with the requirements set out in the
regulation.

4.23 With regard to the management and use of collected
data, the Committee wishes to highlight the importance of the
confidentiality of the primary data that are collected, in particu-
lar data on vessels' activity based on information from satellite
monitoring. The Committee therefore calls on the Commission
to adopt a different approach to the matter.

The President

of the European Economic and Social Committee

Dimitris DIMITRIADIS