Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on Rights-based management tools in fisheries
Date: 2008-02-13
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: catch quota, common fisheries policy, conservation of fish stocks, fishery management, fishing rights

25.6.2008

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 162/79

Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the Proposal for a Regulation of the
European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No 460/2004 establishing the
European Network and Information Security Agency as regards its duration

COM(2007) 861 final — 2007/0291 (COD)

(2008/C 162/15)

On 24 January 2008 the Council decided to consult the European Economic and Social Committee, under
Article 95 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the

Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No 460/2004
establishing the European Network and Information Security Agency as regards its duration

Since the Committee unreservedly endorses the proposal and feels that it requires no comment on its part,
it decided, at its 442nd plenary session of 13 and 14 February 2008 (meeting of 13 February 2008), by
134 votes to 3 with 2 abstentions, to issue an opinion endorsing the proposed text.

Brussels, 13 February 2008.

The President

of the European Economic and Social Committee

Dimitris DIMITRIADIS

Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on Rights-based management tools in
fisheries

(2008/C 162/16)

On 27 September 2007, the European Economic and Social Committee decided to draw up an own-initia-
tive opinion, under Rule 29(2) of its Rules of Procedure, on

Rights-based management tools in fisheries.

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 22 January 2008. The rapporteur was Mr
Sarró Iparraguirre.

At its 442nd plenary session, held on 13 and 14 February 2008 (meeting of 13 February), the European
Economic and Social Committee adopted the following opinion by 110 votes to two with five abstentions.

1. Conclusions

1.1
The EESC considers that, once the discussion phase is
over, the Commission should conduct a study focusing on the
current capacities of Community fleets and the quotas needed
to ensure their competitiveness, whilst respecting the sustain-
ability of Community fishing grounds.

This study should address the updating of Member
1.2
States' rights acquired on the basis of the principle of relative
stability and taking account of the 24 years that have elapsed
since 1983.

1.3
This update should allow for the periodical allocation of
quotas, e.g. for a period of five years, so that quotas can be
redistributed in the event of any imbalances re-emerging.

1.4
The update should work out the best solutions for elimi-
nating the imbalances currently affecting quotas for certain
pelagic and demersal species in specific fishing zones, which for
most Member States result
in excessive quotas or deficient
quotas.

1.5
In any case, the quotas involved should be based on
scientifically proven data. The EESC therefore believes that
greater efforts should be made to improve scientific knowledge
of resources. Currently, most quotas are established on the basis
of the precautionary approach, due to a lack of sufficient scien-
tific data.

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1.6 Moreover, the EESC considers that the relative stability
criterion entails certain acquired rights for Member States. These
rights should not disappear without trace, but could be updated
in line with the sustainability of resources and competitiveness
of Community fleets currently required by the Common Fish-
eries Policy.

1.7
The EESC believes that if the Commission finds that a
rights-based management system in fisheries is necessary, then
this should be at Community level.

The EESC believes that duly updated fishing rights could

1.8
help cut down overfishing and discards at sea substantially.

However, taking the rights of small-scale fishermen as a
1.9
priority, owing to their particular importance in island Member
States and island regions, the Committee believes that small-
scale fishing (understood as being that carried out by fishing
vessels of an overall length of less than 12 metres (1)) should be
excluded from a Community-wide rights-based management
system in fisheries.

The Committee believes that if the Commission were to
1.10
establish a rights-based management system in fisheries,
it
should start with those fisheries for which, owing to discrepan-
cies between excessive and deficient quotas, there is a broad
consensus among the Member States concerned.

1.11
In this case, the Committee believes that it would be
the Commission's duty to set the level at which fishing rights
could be traded (i.e. at the level of the Community, Member
States, organisations of producers or businesses), and to monitor
transactions.

The Committee believes that, if the current imbalances
1.12
are redressed in accordance with the criterion of relative stabi-
lity, a major step will be taken towards a rights-based manage-
ment system in fisheries.

2. Introduction

2.1
In its Communication on Rights-based management tools in
fisheries (2), the Commission aimed to open discussion, for a
period of around one year (27/02/2008), on the need to find
ways to effectively achieve the goals set down in the new
Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), i.e. sustainability of resources
and competitiveness of Community fleets.

quotas, such as individual
transferable quotas and auctions,
which generate a market in fishing rights and may increase the
interest of right-holders in long-term sustainability of fishing’.

the

features which make

In the Roadmap on the reform of the CFP (4), the Commis-
2.3
sion considered that ‘the fisheries sector is still characterised by
application of normal
specific
economic conditions, such as free competition between produ-
cers and freedom of investment, difficult to apply in the short
term’. These features relate to the structural imbalance between
scarce fisheries resources and the size of Community fishing
fleets and the continuing dependence of certain coastal commu-
nities on fisheries. In the roadmap, the Commission set down a
calendar of initiatives, starting in 2002 with the organisation of
workshops on economic management,
in order to discuss a
system of tradable fishing rights (individual or collective). In
the
2003,
outcome of these discussions. A workshop was held, somewhat
later than planned,
in 2007, on the economic dimension of
fisheries, at which, inter alia, the subject of fishing rights was
discussed (5).

the Commission was to inform the Council of

2.4
The EESC felt that this own-initiative opinion should be
drawn up order to add its views to the discussion initiated by
the Commission on how to move towards more effective
resource management, which should be the basic pillar of the
CFP,
to guarantee the long-term sustainability of
resources while ensuring the competitiveness of Community
fleets.

in order

This opinion aims to highlight the problems that exist in
fishing

2.5
implementing effective rights-based management of
resources and to propose possible solutions to these problems.

2.6
The EESC endorses the Commission's view that a climate
must be created ‘that will be more favourable to the introduc-
tion of more normal economic conditions and the elimination
of such barriers to normal economic activity as national alloca-
tions of fishing possibilities and the principle of relative stabi-
lity’ (6).

firstly,

Therefore,

to further

this opinion aims,

2.7
the
analysis of the criterion of relative stability which, according to
the main professional fishing associations (7) and the Commis-
sion, is one of the main obstacles to the implementation of an
EU-wide system of fishing rights: the trading or transfer of defi-
nitive ownership of rights between companies in Member States
current quota distribution percentages
would modify the
therefore, affect relative stability.
between States and would,
Secondly, the opinion aims to provide information to help set
up this management system, which is already operating on a
national scale in some Member States and in some non-EU
countries competing in the Community market.

2.2
In its Green Paper on the Future of the Common Fisheries
Policy (3) the Commission called for new management methods
to be explored, such as ‘market-based systems for allocation of

(1) Article 26 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1198/2006 on the European

Fisheries Fund (OJ L 223 of 15.8.2006).

(2) COM(2007) 73 final, 26/02/2007.
(3) COM(2001) 135 final, 20/03/2001.

(4) COM(2002) 181 final, 28.5.2002.
(5) Workshop held by the Commission, in Brussels, on 14 and 15 May

2007.

(6) COM(2002) 181 final, p. 25.
(7) At the meeting of the Advisory Committee on Fisheries' Working
Group on Resources on 18.9.2007, EAPO and EUROPECHE/COGECA
both presented documents (Ref. EAPO 07-29 of 17.9.2007; Ref.
EUROPECHE/COGECA EP(07)119F/CP(07)1053.3, of 17.9.2007)
mentioning this concern about fishing rights.

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2.8 Background

In 1972 (8), the principle of equal access to Member
2.8.1
States' fisheries resources, established in 1970 (9), was repealed
by the Council for a transitional period scheduled to end on
31.12.1982.

Consequently, and in order to protect coastal regions
2.8.2
when this transitional period came to an end,
in 1976 the
Council approved the ‘Hague Preferences’ (10) which, on an
internal level, aimed to protect coastal fisheries by taking into
account the ‘vital needs’ of
local communities dependent on
fishing.

the conservation and management of

Negotiations between the Commission and

2.8.3
the
Member States on the distribution of total allowable catches
(TACs) continued until 1983, when Regulation (EEC) No
170/1983 was approved, which established a Community
fishery
system for
resources (11) and set down the definitive distribution in accord-
ance with the following criteria: the traditional fishing activities
of each Member State, the particular needs of regions where
local populations are especially dependent on fisheries (taking
the Hague preferences into consideration) and the potential loss
of catches in third-country waters as a result of the extension of
the exclusive economic zones to 200 nautical miles.

2.8.4
This distribution scheme, recognised as a criterion for
relative stability, guaranteed each Member State (12) an invariable
percentage of the TAC for each species. The Council understood
‘relative stability’ as being a concept which, ‘given the temporary
biological situation of stocks, must safeguard the particular
needs of regions where local populations are especially depen-
dent on fisheries and related industries’ (13). In other words, the
Hague preferences, as established by the Council in 1976, were
maintained, extending the derogation of the equal access prin-
ciple.

2.8.5
Under Regulation (EEC) No 170/83, the Commission
was to draw up a report on the socio-economic situation of
coastal regions by 31 December 1991. Based on this,
the
Council would decide on the necessary adjustments, although it
would be possible to extend the system of access conditions and
quota distribution criteria until 31 December 2002.

2.8.6
In the light of the report submitted by the Commis-
sion, the Council made the political decision to extend the
system of access conditions and quota distribution criteria until
31.12.2002 (14).

(8) Under the Acts of Accession signed by the Community and by
Denmark, the UK and Ireland, the transitional period expired on 31
December 1982. See OJ L 73, 27.3.1972.

(9) Regulation (EEC) No 2141/70, published in OJ L236 of 27.10.1970.
(10) Council Resolution of 3.11.1976 (OJ C 105 of 7.5.1981).
(11) OJ L 24 of 27.1.1983.
(12) In 1983, the Community comprised Germany, Belgium, Denmark,
France, the UK, Greece, the Netherlands, Ireland, Italy and Luxem-
bourg.

(13) Recitals 6 and 7 of Regulation (EC) No 170/1983. OJ L 24 of

27.1.1983.

(14) Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 170/1983.

fisheries

exploitation of

resources under

2.8.7
Finally, Article 20 of Council Regulation (EC) No
2371/2002 of 20 December 2002 on the conservation and
sustainable
the
Common Fisheries Policy stated that ‘fishing opportunities shall
be distributed among Member States in such a way as to assure
each Member State relative stability of fishing activities for each
stock or fishery.’ Article 17 of the regulation further extended
the derogation of the equal access principle, until 31.12.2012,
and again provided for a report to be drafted on the derogation
of this principle.

3. General remarks

3.1
The EESC believes that the relative stability criterion, i.e.
the invariable percentage of TACs allocated to each Member
State 24 years ago, does not take account of the economic and
social development of populations which are currently depen-
dent on fishing and its related industries. The present capacity
of Community fleets, current exploitation of resources and the
investments made in coastal regions have little in common with
the situation in 1983, when certain Member States with fishing
interests had not yet joined the Community.

In the Commission regulations on the adjustment of
3.2
quotas (15),
it is clear that in some fisheries and Community
fishing areas every year
there are significant discrepancies
between the quotas allocated to Member States and the catches
made by them, in terms of both pelagic and demersal species.
These imbalances — which generate excessive quotas, deficient
quotas and even, due to a lack of fleets, unusable quotas —
affect most Member States for specific fisheries and fishing
areas, and are due not only to biological reasons but also to the
consequences of implementing the relative stability principle.

3.3
The EESC believes that the primary consideration in allo-
cating rights within the TAC framework must be to ensure the
recovery (and maintenance) of the stocks of the different fish
species and other marine resources at higher and more sustain-
able levels. The EESC recommends that greater efforts should be
made to improve scientific knowledge of the state of fish stocks,
and how allocations and fishing practices can best be managed
to ensure the optimum results both for the maintenance of the
fish stocks themselves and of the economic prosperity of the
fishing communities that depend on them. Total allocations
need to be kept well within scientifically established maximum
sustainable yields and individual allocation limits need to be
effectively policed and enforced.

The EESC therefore considers

the Commission
3.4
should conduct a study focusing on the current capacities of
Community fleets and the quotas needed to ensure their compe-
titiveness and the sustainability of fish stocks. This study should
address the updating of Member States' acquired rights, based

that

(15) Those relating to the last three years are: Commission Regulations (EC)
No 776/2005, OJ L 130, 24.5.2005; (EC) No 742/2006, OJ L 130,
18/05/2006, and (EC) No 609/2007, OJ L 141, 2.6.2007.

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on the principle of relative stability, in order to work out the
best solutions for eliminating the imbalances currently affecting
quotas for certain pelagic and demersal species in specific
fishing zones. The overall aim should be to ensure the long-
term sustainability of resources and the competitiveness of
Community fleets — which are the main objectives of the CFP.

the Committee considers that

the relative
3.5 Moreover,
stability criterion entails certain acquired rights for Member
States. These rights should not disappear without trace, but
could be updated in line with the sustainability of resources and
competitiveness of Community fleets currently required by the
Common Fisheries Policy.

4. Specific comments

4.1
The EESC believes that the Commission should carry out
the requested study as soon as possible, once the discussion
phase is over. Given the current situation of Community fish-
eries resources and the competitiveness of the Community fleet,
it should not be necessary to wait until 2012 for a new
Commission report to be drafted and the imbalances currently
affecting catch quotas and the Community fleet to be redressed.

This update should allow for the periodical allocation of
4.2
quotas, e.g. for a period of five years, so that quotas can be
redistributed in the event of any imbalances re-emerging.

4.3
The Committee believes that if, as a result of the discus-
sion about solutions to the current situation, the Commission
finds that a management system should be established on the
basis of the updated fishing rights of the Member States, then
this should be done at Community level.

4.4
The Committee considers that, since the Reform Treaty
(Lisbon Treaty) was signed in December 2007, there is a very
favourable attitude among the Member States towards such a
management system for fisheries.

Brussels, 13 February 2008.

4.5
The Committee is aware of the difficulties that would be
entailed by setting up a Community-wide management system,
based on tradable fishing rights, but considers that it could be a
means of achieving ‘exploitation of living aquatic resources in a
manner that provides sustainable economic, environmental and
social conditions’ (16) if, inter alia, the criteria below are taken
into account.

In order

to protect
any Community-level

the rights of small-scale fish-
4.5.1
ermen (17),
rights-based management
system in fisheries should exclude small-scale fishing, it being an
activity on which many coastal communities — particularly in
island States and regions — depend.

4.5.2
So as to avoid dominant market positions arising from
the possibility of buying and selling fishing rights, this could be
restricted to a percentage of the maximum annual total catch
per species in each Member State.

this management

The Committee believes

4.5.3
system
should be implemented across the different Community fisheries
on a gradual, step-by-step basis, starting with those for which,
owing to discrepancies between excessive and deficient quotas,
among the Member States
there
concerned.

a broad consensus

is

The Commission would have to determine,

for a
4.5.4
fishery affected by the
system,
whether trading would be at the level of the Community, the
Member States, organisations of producers or businesses, and
clearly set out how these transactions would be monitored.

rights-based management

The EESC believes that duly updated fishing rights could

4.6
help cut down overfishing and discards at sea substantially.

4.7
The Committee believes that, if the current imbalances
are redressed in accordance with the criterion of relative stabi-
lity, a major step will be taken towards a rights-based manage-
ment system in fisheries. This system, duly regulated to prevent
dominant market positions, will make it possible to distribute
resources more fairly and evenly among the various Community
fleets, which will help to achieve greater sustainability of
resources and ensure the competitiveness of Community fleets.

The President

of the European Economic and Social Committee

Dimitris DIMITRIADIS

(16) Council Regulation (EC) 2371/2002 on the conservation and sustain-
able exploitation of fisheries resources under the Common Fisheries
Policy, OJ L 358, 31.12.2002.

(17) ‘Small-scale fishing’ is considered as being that defined by Article 26 of
Council Regulation (EC) No 1198/2006, i.e. carried out by fishing
vessels of an overall length of less than 12 metres.