Recovery of cod stocks *European Parliament legislative resolution of 21 October 2008 on the proposal for a Council regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 423/2004 as regards the recovery of cod stocks and amending Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93 (COM(2008)0162 — C6-0183/2008 — 2008/0063(CNS)
Date: 2008-10-21
Institutions: Committee on Fisheries, European Parliament
Subjects: China, India, Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, anti-dumping duty, import (EU), manufactured goods, steel








CE2010015EN.01011201.xml










21.1.2010   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


CE 15/112





Tuesday 21 October 2008Recovery of cod stocks *
P6_TA(2008)0487
European Parliament legislative resolution of 21 October 2008 on the proposal for a Council regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 423/2004 as regards the recovery of cod stocks and amending Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93 (COM(2008)0162 — C6-0183/2008 — 2008/0063(CNS))
2010/C 15 E/30
(Consultation procedure)

The European Parliament,
having regard to the Commission proposal to the Council (COM(2008)0162),
having regard to Article 37 of the EC Treaty, pursuant to which the Council consulted Parliament (C6-0183/2008),
having regard to Rule 51 of its Rules of Procedure,
having regard to the report of the Committee on Fisheries (A6-0340/2008),






1.


Approves the Commission proposal as amended;










2.


Calls on the Commission to alter its proposal accordingly, pursuant to Article 250(2) of the EC Treaty;










3.


Calls on the Council to notify Parliament if it intends to depart from the text approved by Parliament;










4.


Asks the Council to consult Parliament again if it intends to amend the Commission proposal substantially;










5.


Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council and the Commission.










TEXT PROPOSED BY THE COMMISSION


AMENDMENTS





Amendment 1






Proposal for a regulation — amending act


Recital 1











(1)


Recent scientific advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) has indicated that the reductions in cod catches arising from the collective effect of total allowable landings (TACs), technical measures and complementary effort management measures have been far from sufficient to reduce fishing mortalities to levels required to allow the cod stocks to rebuild and none of the four cod stocks covered by Regulation (EC) No 423/2004 show clear signs of recovery.












(1)


Recent scientific advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) has indicated that the reductions in cod catches arising from the collective effect of total allowable landings (TACs), technical measures and complementary effort management measures 
(including monitoring and control to prevent the catching and landing of cod caught by illegal, unreported or unregulated fishing)
 have been far from sufficient to reduce fishing mortalities to levels required to allow the cod stocks to rebuild and none of the four cod stocks covered by Regulation (EC) No 423/2004 show clear signs of recovery, 
although stocks in the North and Celtic Seas are showing some signs of improvement
.









Amendment 2






Proposal for a regulation — amending act


Recital 4a (new)





 










(4a)





Effective fisheries management mechanisms should be developed in cooperation with the fishing industry. To this end, evaluation and decision-making should involve the relevant Regional Advisory Councils and Member States.










Amendment 3






Proposal for a regulation — amending act


Recital 5











(5)


New mechanisms must be introduced, to encourage fishermen to engage in cod-avoidance programmes.












(5)


New mechanisms must be introduced, to encourage fishermen 
and Member States
 to engage in cod-avoidance programmes. 
All cod caught ought to be landed, rather than discarded, so as to enable proper scientific evaluation of stocks.











Amendment 4






Proposal for a regulation — amending act


Recital 5a (new)





 










(5a)





Any such cod-avoidance programmes are more likely to succeed if they are developed in cooperation with the fishing industry; accordingly, cod-avoidance programmes developed within Member States should be considered an effective means of promoting sustainability, and the development of such programmes should be encouraged alongside the operation of the relevant Community legislation.










Amendment 5






Proposal for a regulation — amending act


Recital 5b (new)





 










(5b)





Member States should exercise their power to allocate access to fishing for cod stocks so as to encourage their fishermen to fish in ways that result in more selective fishing and are less harmful to the environment.










Amendment 6






Proposal for a regulation — amending act


Article 1 — point 1


Regulation (EC) No. 423/2004


Article 2b — point ba (new)





 










(ba)





when cod stocks have substantially improved, the Commission should review the system of regulating the fishing effort.










Amendment 7






Proposal for a regulation — amending act


Article 1 — point 3


Regulation (EC) No 423/2004


Article 6 — paragraph 4











4.


Notwithstanding paragraph 1
(b) and (c)
 and paragraph 2, the Council shall not set the TAC at a level that is more than 15 % below or above the TAC established in the previous year.












4.


Notwithstanding paragraph 1 and paragraph 2, the Council shall not set the TAC at a level that is more than 15 % below or above the TAC established in the previous year.









Amendment 8






Proposal for a regulation — amending act


Article 1 — point 3


Regulation (EC) No 423/2004


Article 6 — paragraph 5 — point b











(b)




as
 appropriate 
a
 quantity 
corresponding to
 other relevant sources of cod mortality to be fixed on the basis of a proposal from the Commission.












(b)




an
 appropriate quantity 
suggested by
 other relevant sources of cod mortality, 
such as scientific analysis evaluating the amount of cod being killed by seals, together with an assessment of the impact of climate change on cod recovery,
 to be fixed on the basis of a proposal from the Commission.









Amendment 9






Proposal for a regulation — amending act


Article 1 — point 3


Regulation (EC) No 423/2004


Article 7 — paragraph 1





1.   
Each
 three years from the date of entry into force of this Regulation, the Commission shall request STECF to evaluate the progress of each 
of the
 depleted cod 
stocks towards recovery
.


1.   
Every
 three years from the date of entry into force of this Regulation, the Commission shall request STECF to evaluate the progress 
towards recovery
 of each depleted cod 
stock. In addition, the Commission shall seek the views of the relevant Regional Advisory Councils and Member States as to the effective management of cod stocks.







Amendment 10






Proposal for a regulation — amending act


Article 1 — point 4


Regulation (EC) No 423/2004


Chapter IV — title














Amendment 11






Proposal for a regulation — amending act


Article 1 — point 4


Regulation (EC) No 423/2004


Article 8a — paragraph 2 — point a











(a)


for the first year of application of this Regulation the baseline shall be established as the average effort in kW-days spent during the years 
2005, 2006
 and 
2007
, based on the advice of STECF.












(a)


for the first year of application of this Regulation the baseline shall be established as the average effort in kW-days spent during the years 
2004, 2005
 and 
2006
, based on the advice of STECF.









Amendment 12






Proposal for a regulation — amending act


Article 1 — point 4


Regulation (EC) No 423/2004


Article 8a — paragraph 3 — introductory part





3.   For effort groups which on the basis of the annual evaluation of the fishing effort management data submitted in accordance with Articles 18, 19 and 20 of Regulation (EC) No …/2008 have contributed most to the total catch of cod and whose 
total catch
 on basis of that evaluation consists by at least 80 % of cod, the maximum allowable fishing effort shall be calculated as follows:


3.   For effort groups which on the basis of the annual evaluation of the fishing effort management data submitted in accordance with Articles 18, 19 and 20 of Regulation (EC) No …/2008 have contributed most to the total catch of cod 
overall
 and whose 
accumulated catches
 on basis of that evaluation consists by at least 80 % of cod, the maximum allowable fishing effort shall be calculated as follows:





Amendment 13






Proposal for a regulation — amending act


Article 1 — point 4


Regulation (EC) No 423/2004


Article 8a — paragraph 3 — point a











(a)


where Article 6 applies, by applying to the baseline the same percentage 
reduction
 as that set out in Article 6 for fishing mortality;












(a)


where Article 6 applies, by applying to the baseline the same percentage 
change
 as that set out in Article 6 for fishing mortality;









Amendment 14






Proposal for a regulation — amending act


Article 1 — point 4


Regulation (EC) No 423/2004


Article 8b — paragraph 1 — introductory part





1.   For the vessels flying its flag, each Member State shall decide on a method for allocating the maximum allowable fishing effort to individual vessels, 
based on the following
 criteria:


1.   For the vessels flying its flag, each Member State shall decide on a method for allocating the maximum allowable fishing effort to individual vessels, 
in the light of a number of
 criteria, 
including, for example
:





Amendment 15






Proposal for a regulation — amending act


Article 1 — point 4


Regulation (EC) No 423/2004


Article 8b — paragraph 3







3.
   
For each effort group, the total capacity expressed both in GT and kW of the vessels having special fishing permits issued in accordance with paragraph 2 shall not be greater than the capacity of the vessels that have been active in 2007 using the gear and fishing in the geographical area concerned.






deleted







Amendment 16






Proposal for a regulation — amending act


Article 1 — point 4


Regulation (EC) No 423/2004


Article 8d — introductory part





The maximum allowable fishing effort established in accordance with Article 8a 
shall
 be adapted by the Member States concerned in view of:


The maximum allowable fishing effort established in accordance with Article 8a 
may
 be adapted by the Member States concerned in view of:





Amendment 17






Proposal for a regulation — amending act


Article 1 — point 4


Regulation (EC) No 423/2004


Article 8e — paragraph 3





3.   The transfer shall only be allowed from a donor gear grouping having shown, for cod, a catch per unit effort (cpue) larger that the cpue of the receiving gear grouping. The Member State requesting the transfer shall provide the necessary cpue information.


3.   The transfer shall only be allowed 
in principle
 from a donor gear grouping having shown, for cod, a catch per unit effort (cpue) larger that the cpue of the receiving gear grouping. 
Where a transfer is from one donor gear grouping to another donor gear grouping with a higher cpue, the effort transferred shall be subject to a reduction in the form of a more specifically defined correction factor.
 The Member State requesting the transfer shall provide the necessary cpue information.





Amendment 18






Proposal for a regulation — amending act


Article 1 — point 6


Regulation (EC) No 423/2004


Article 17






Article 17


Decision-making procedure



Where this Regulation provides for decisions to be taken by the Council, the Council shall act by qualified majority on the basis of a proposal from the Commission.






deleted