COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union concerning the position of the Council on the adoption of a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing specific conditions to fishing for deep-sea stocks in the North-East Atlantic and provisions for fishing in international waters of the North-East Atlantic and repealing Regulation (EC) No 2347/2002
Date: 2016-10-21
Institutions: Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, European Commission
Subjects: Atlantic Ocean, North-West Atlantic Fisheries Organisation, deep-sea fishing, exploitation of the seas, fishery management, fishing controls, fishing net, fishing rights, international waters

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 21.10.2016  COM(2016) 667 final 2012/0179 (COD)   COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT  pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union  concerning the position of the Council on the adoption of a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing specific conditions to fishing for deep-sea stocks in the North-East Atlantic and provisions for fishing in international waters of the North-East Atlantic and repealing Regulation (EC) No 2347/2002  
 
 
2012/0179 (COD) 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union 

concerning the 

position of the Council on the adoption of a Regulation of the European Parliament and 
of the Council establishing specific conditions to fishing for deep-sea stocks in the North-
East Atlantic and provisions for fishing in international waters of the North-East 
Atlantic and repealing Regulation (EC) No 2347/2002 

1. 

BACKGROUND 

Date of transmission of the proposal to the European Parliament and 
to the Council 
(document COM(2012) 371 final – 2012/0179 COD): 

19 July 2012 

Date  of  the  opinion  of  the  European  Economic  and  Social 
Committee: 

13 February 2013 

Date of the position of the European Parliament, first reading: 

10 December 2013 

Date of transmission of the amended proposal: 

Date of adoption of the position of the Council: 

24 October 2016 

18 October 2016 

2. 

OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSAL FROM THE COMMISSION 

The deep-sea fisheries in the North-East Atlantic are partly dominated by traditional coastal 
fleets  (Portugal)  and  large  nomadic  trawlers  (France,  Spain).  Altogether  they  account  for 
approximately  1%  of  landings  from  the  North-East  Atlantic.  The  economy  of  a  number  of 
fishing  communities  depends  to  a  certain  extent  on  deep-sea  fisheries.  The  fisheries  are 
pursued in Union waters and in international waters governed by agreements within the North 
East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC). 

Deep-sea  stocks  are  fish  stocks  caught  in  waters  beyond  the  main  fishing  grounds  of 
continental  shelves.  They  are  distributed  on  the  continental  slopes  or  associated  with 
seamounts. Deep-sea fisheries have only since 2003 been subject to detailed management on 
fishing opportunities (total allowable catch, maximum fishing effort). Before this, the fishery 
developments  were  largely  unregulated  and  partly  showed typical  symptoms  of  the  "race  to 
fish" problem, resulting in the depletion of stocks. 
Council  Regulation  (EC)  No  2347/20021  established  specific  access  requirements  and 
associated  conditions  for  fishing  deep-sea  stocks.  However,  with  the  time  these  measures 
proved not to be sufficiently constraining and could no longer ensure sustainable management 

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Council  Regulation  (EC)  No  2347/2002  establishing  specific  access  requirements  and  associated 
conditions applicable to fishing for deep-sea stocks (OJ L 351, 28.12.2002, p. 6) 

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of  the  stocks.  In  addition,  they  did  not  address  the  issue  of  preventing  significant  adverse 
impacts on vulnerable marine ecosystems. 

In  2007  and  2010  the  United  Nations  General  Assembly  adopted  Resolutions  61/105  and 
64/72, which called on States and Regional Fisheries Management Organisations to ensure the 
protection of vulnerable deep-sea marine ecosystems from the impact of bottom fishing gears, 
as well as sustainable exploitation of deep-sea fish stocks. 

NEAFC  measures  in  the  area  of  deep-sea  fishing  which  were  adopted  and  transposed  into 
Union  law  comprise  the  ban  of  gillnets,  closed  areas  to  protect  benthic  habitats  which 
represent  main  sources  of  biodiversity  (vulnerable  marine  ecosystems),  the  capping  of  total 
annually  expended  fishing  effort,  and  the  mapping  of  the  existing  fishing  activity  with  the 
purpose of making new fisheries conditional on a prior environmental impact assessment.  

The  general  objective  of  the  proposal  is  to  ensure  as  much  as  possible  the  sustainable 
exploitation  of  deep-sea  stocks  while  reducing  the  environmental  impact  of  these  fisheries, 
and  to  improve  the  information  base  for  scientific  assessment.  As  long  as  data  and  method 
have not achieved the required level allowing MSY-based management, the fisheries have to 
be managed according to the precautionary approach to fisheries management. 

In order to reduce the destructive impact on the marine ecosystem, the Proposal provided that 
the  use  of  bottom  trawls  should  be  phased  out  in  this  fishery,  as  they  are  most  harmful  to 
vulnerable  marine  ecosystems  and  have  shown  high  levels  of  undesired  catch  of  deep-sea 
species. The transitional restrictions on bottom-set gillnets in fisheries below 600m depth and 
in  the  depth-range  200-600m  should  be  accompanied  by  a  prohibition  to  target  deep-sea 
species. 

As the Proposal provided for a phase-out of bottom gears, it did not include specific measures 
for  preventing  significant  impacts  to  vulnerable  marine  ecosystems  (VMEs)  or  closures  of 
areas where such ecosystems are present. 

The  proposal  also  considered  the  opportunity  to  simplify  the  management  system  for  these 
stocks,  currently  subject  to  a  double  instrument:  catch  limitations  and  capacity/effort 
limitation. 

It  should  be  noted  that  the  legal  framework  has  evolved  since  the  submission  of  the 
Commission  Proposal:  the  Common  fisheries  Policy  (CFP)  has  been  reformed  and  the  new 
"Basic Begulation2" entered into force on 1 January 2014. 

3. 

COMMENTS ON THE POSITION OF THE COUNCIL 

3.1. 

General comments on Council position: 

The  position  of  the  Council  reflects  the  political  agreement  reached  by  the  European 
Parliament and the Council on 30 June 2016. The Commission supports this agreement.  

3.2. 

Amendments by the European Parliament at first reading: 

During the negotiations, EP has revised its position due to changes in the legal framework and 
adoption of the new CFP. Therefore, the first reading position of EP taken on 10 December 
2013 was considered as being less relevant for the negotiations. 

3.3. 

Provisions introduced by the Council and Commission position in this regard: 

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Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013 on 
the  Common  Fisheries  Policy,  amending  Council  Regulations  (EC)  No  1954/2003  and  (EC)  No 
1224/2009 and repealing Council Regulations (EC) No 2371/2002 and (EC) No 639/2004 and Council 
Decision 2004/585/EC (OJ L 354, 28.12.2013, p. 22)  

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The  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  were  unfavourable  to  the  proposed  phase-out  of 
bottom gears for targeting deep sea fish.  However, they were agreed on measures replacing 
it,  as  well  as  other  conservation  measures  for  protecting  VMEs.  The  text  was  therefore 
significantly  amended  to  provide  for  the  following  measures  reflected  in  the  political 
agreement: 

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Two  types  of  fishing  authorisations  are  introduced:  targeting  fishing  authorisations 
for vessels that land more than 8% of deep-sea species in any fishing trip and at least 
10  tonnes  in  the  calendar  year  concerned;  and  by-catch  fishing  authorisations  for 
vessels  that  have  by-catches  of  deep-sea  species.  By-catch  vessels  are  subject  to 
flexibility of 15% beyond 10 tonnes; 

The  capping  of  fishing  capacity  on  the  basis  of  the  capacity  of  vessels  that  landed 
more than 10 tonnes of deep-sea species in 2009-2011; 

The  limitation  of  targeted  deep-sea  fisheries  to  the  area  where  targeted  deep-sea 
fishing  occurred  in  2009-2011,  i.e.  before  the  Commission  Proposal  was  submitted 
(the footprint area);  

Exploratory  fishing  outside  the  footprint  area  will  be  subject  to  an  impact 
assessment.  The  Commission  will  establish  the  conditions  for  such  fishing  through 
implementing acts. The duration of exploratory fishing will be limited to maximum 
one year renewable once; 

The  obligation  for  vessels  to  report  encounters  with  vulnerable  marine  ecosystems 
below a  depth  of 400m  and to  move to  an  alternative area at least  5 nautical miles 
away from the area of encounter; 

The  prohibition  of  deep-sea  fishing  with  bottom  trawls  below  800  meters  from  the 
water surface; 

The closure of areas with VMEs for deep-sea fishing with bottom gears based on the 
impact  assessment  and  the  reported  encounters.  This  will  be  put  in  place  by  the 
Commission through implementing acts on the basis of scientific advice; 

The  application  of  stricter  control  provisions,  such  as  restriction  on  transhipment, 
real-time reporting on the use of quota, enhanced follow-up of misreported catches, 
specific  control  and  inspection  programmes,  higher  multiplication  factor  for 
overfishing, possibility for the Commission to adopt emergency measures, etc.; 

The  obligation  to  land  quantities  exceeding  100kg  of  deep-sea  species  only  in 
designated  ports  and  the  requirement  to  notify  the  intention  to  land  at  least  4h  in 
advance and for vessels of not more than 12m at least 1h in advance; 

The withdrawal of fishing authorisations for at least two months in case of a failure 
to  comply  with  the  conditions  set  in  the  fishing  authorisation  regarding  the  use  of 
gears, areas of operation and catch limits, as well as a failure to take an observer on 
board; 

More  specific  data  collection  provisions  and  observer  coverage  of  at  least  20%  for 
targeting vessels using bottom trawls and bottom-set gillnets and 10% coverage for 
other  vessels.  The  coverage  could  be  adapted  through  co-decision  on  the  basis  of 
scientific advice; 

The  above  measures  concern  the  EU  waters  and  certain  CECAF  areas  where  EU 
vessels fish. In the NEAFC area the current provisions on fishing permit, designated 

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ports and data collection will continue to apply. The increased observer coverage of 
20% will also apply in the NEAFC area; 

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The evaluation of the impact of the measures four years after the entry into force of 
the Regulation to determine the extent of the objectives achieved. 

The compromise text departs significantly from the original 2012 Commission proposal, but it 
is in line with the new rules set in the new Basic Regulation, provides for sufficient replacing 
measures  to  the  phase-out  of  bottom  gears,  ensures  conditions  for  preventing  significant  
adverse  impacts  on  vulnerable  marine  ecosystems  and  establishes  better  conditions  for 
improving data collection. The Commission can accept all changes. 

4. 

CONCLUSION 

The  legal  services  and  lawyer  linguists  of  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  were 
mandated to make all the relevant adjustments  to the text. The resulting document therefore 
represents the political agreement reached by the co-legislators on 30 June 2016. 

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