Proposal for a COUNCIL REGULATION amending Council Regulation (EU) No 1258/2012 of 28 November 2012 on the allocation of the fishing opportunities under the Protocol agreed between the European Union and the Republic of Madagascar setting out fishing opportunities and the financial contribution provided for in the Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the two parties currently in force
Date: 2013-07-04
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: France, Madagascar, Portugal, Spain, catch quota, financial compensation of an agreement, fishing agreement, protocol to an agreement, revision of an agreement, ship's flag, signature of an agreement

EUROPEAN 
COMMISSION 

Brussels, 4.7.2013  
COM(2013) 488 final 

2013/0228 (NLE) 

Proposal for a 

COUNCIL REGULATION 

amending Council Regulation (EU) No 1258/2012 of 28 November 2012 on the allocation 
of the fishing opportunities under the Protocol agreed between the European Union and 
the Republic of Madagascar setting out fishing opportunities and the financial 
contribution provided for in the Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the two 
parties currently in force 

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EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 

1. 

CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL 

On  the  basis  of  a  mandate  from  the  Council1,  the  European  Commission  conducted 
negotiations  with  the  Republic  of  Madagascar  with  a  view  to  renewing  the  Protocol  to  the 
Fisheries  Partnership  Agreement  between  the  European  Community  and  the  Republic  of 
Madagascar.  At  the  end  of  the  negotiations  a  new  Protocol  was  initialled  on  10  May  2012. 
The new protocol covers a period of two years as from 1 January 2013. 

Specifically,  the  Protocol  provides  for  fishing  opportunities  for  34  surface  longliners  of  a 
tonnage greater than 100 GT and for 22 surface longliners of a tonnage less than 100 GT. 

Part of the longliners’ catches consists of sharks which, in terms of fisheries, are associated 
with tuna and similar species and are covered by measures adopted by the Indian Ocean Tuna 
Commission (IOTC). 

Based on the latest opinions and recommendations of the Scientific Committee of the IOTC, 
and taking into account the vulnerability to fishing pressure of the shark species concerned, 
the Parties find it appropriate to limit the catches of these species in the Madagascar fishing 
zone to a level below, or equal to, the level of recent years. 

At the most recent meeting of the Joint Committee set up under the Fisheries Agreement, the 
Parties thus agreed to set the level of authorised shark catches by EU longliners at a maximum 
of  200  tonnes  annually  for  two  years  as  from  1  January  2013,  thereby  freezing  the  fishing 
pressure on the basis of track records for the EU fleet, as validated for the 2007-11 period by 
scientific institutes in the EU. 

The  method  for  allocating  fishing  opportunities  among  the  Member  States  thus  needs  to  be 
defined. 

The Commission proposes, on this basis, that the Council adopt the Regulation below. 

2. 

RESULTS OF CONSULTATIONS WITH THE INTERESTED PARTIES AND 
IMPACT ASSESSMENTS 

The  Member  States  were  consulted  in  the  framework  of  the  Council  Working  Party  on 
Fisheries,  and  at  technical  meetings  both  ahead  of  and  in  parallel  to  the  Joint  Committee 
meeting. The consultations led to the conclusion that tighter restrictions should be applied to 
shark catches, inter alia by setting a catch limit in accordance with the measures adopted by 
the IOTC.  

1 

Adopted by the General Affairs Council on 24 April 2012.  

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2013/0228 (NLE) 

Proposal for a 

COUNCIL REGULATION 

amending Council Regulation (EU) No 1258/2012 of 28 November 2012 on the allocation 
of the fishing opportunities under the Protocol agreed between the European Union and 
the Republic of Madagascar setting out fishing opportunities and the financial 
contribution provided for in the Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the two 
parties currently in force 

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, 

Having  regard  to  the  Treaty  on  the  Functioning  of  the  European  Union,  and  in  particular 
Article 43(3) thereof, 

Having  regard  to  Council  Regulation  (EU)  No  1258/2012  of  28  November  2012  on  the 
allocation of the fishing opportunities under the Protocol agreed between the European Union 
and  the  Republic  of  Madagascar  setting  out  fishing  opportunities  and  the  financial 
contribution  provided  for  in  the  Fisheries  Partnership  Agreement  between  the  two  parties 
currently in force, 

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission, 

Whereas: 

On 15 November 2007, the Council adopted Regulation (EC) No 31/2008 on the conclusion 
of the Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the European Community and the Republic 
of Madagascar (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Partnership Agreement’).  

A  new  Protocol  to  the  Partnership  Agreement  was  initialled  on  10  May  2012  (hereinafter 
referred to as the ‘new Protocol’). The new Protocol grants EU vessels fishing opportunities 
in waters in which Madagascar exercises its sovereignty or jurisdiction with regard to fishing.  

On  28  November  2012  the  Council  adopted  Decision  No  826/2012/EU2  on  the  signing  and 
provisional application of the new Protocol.  

At a meeting held on 26 September 2012, the Joint Committee set up under Article 9 of the 
Partnership  Agreement  examined  the  issue  of  sharks  caught  in  association  with  fisheries 
managed by the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC). IOTC Resolution 05/05 deals with 
the  management  and  conservation  of  such  sharks,  and  fishing  them  is  authorised  within  the 
framework of this Agreement. 

At the Joint Committee meeting the Parties agreed, on the basis of track records for the period 
2007-11  of  longliners  authorised  to  fish  under  the  previous  protocol  to  the  Partnership 

2 

OJ L 361, 31.12.2012, p. 11. 

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Agreement,  as  validated  by  the  relevant  scientific  institutes,  that  it  would  be  appropriate  to 
limit  shark  catches  by  these  vessels  to  a  maximum  of  200  tonnes  annually  for  two  years  as 
from 1 January 2013, thereby freezing the fishing pressure on these shark stocks in line with 
the recommendation issued by the IOTC Scientific Committee. 

The method for allocating shark catches among the Member States should be defined for the 
period of application of the Protocol currently in force by amending Council Regulation (EU) 
No 1258/2012 of 28 November 2012.  

The Member States whose vessels are authorised to fish under this Regulation should have the 
possibility to exchange all or part of the fishing opportunities allocated to them with respect to 
sharks.  

Given  that  the  Protocol  entered  into  force  on  a  provisional  basis  on  1  January  2013,  this 
Regulation should apply retroactively from that date, 

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:  

Article 1 

1. The following paragraph 1a shall be added in Article 1 of Regulation (EU) No 1258/2012:  

The fishing opportunities for sharks caught in association with fisheries managed by 
‘1a. 
the  Indian  Ocean  Tuna  Commission  (IOTC)  in  the  context  of  surface  longline  fishing  are 
hereby set at 200 tonnes per year, to be allocated among the Member States as follows: 

Member State 

tonnes 

Spain 

Portugal 

France 

Total 

166 

27 

7 

200 

’ 

Article 2 

This  Regulation  shall  enter  into  force  on  the  day  following  its  publication  in  the  Official 
Journal of the European Union.  

It shall apply with effect from 1 January 2013. 

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States. 

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Done at Brussels,  

For the Council 
The President 

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