COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE IMPACT ASSESSMENT Accompanying the document PROPOSAL FOR A REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL establishing a multi-annual plan for small pelagic stocks in the Adriatic Sea and the fisheries exploiting those stocks
Date: 2017-02-24
Institutions: Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, European Commission
Subjects: Mediterranean Sea, authorised catch, catch by species, catch quota, conservation of fish stocks, fishing controls, fishing rights, sea fishing, sustainable development

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 24.2.2017  SWD(2017) 63 final   COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE IMPACT ASSESSMENT  Accompanying the document PROPOSAL FOR A REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL establishing a multi-annual plan for small pelagic stocks in the Adriatic Sea and the fisheries exploiting those stocks {COM(2017) 97 final} {SWD(2017) 64 final}  
 
 
Impact assessment on a proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council 
establishing a multi-annual plan for the small pelagic stocks and their fisheries in the Adriatic Sea 

A. Need for action 

1. Background 

There are two main problems concerning small pelagic fish (anchovy and sardine) in the Adriatic Sea:  

1)  they  are  severely  overfished,  due  to  overcapacity  in  the  fleet,  environmental  factors  (outside  the 
scope of this proposal), and inadequate management measures;  

2) the governance framework is ineffective due to the inadequate management measures (limiting the 
effort  that  goes  into  the  fishery,  which  is  not  adapted  to  the  characteristics  of  these  fish  and  the 
fishery) and the complexity and instability of the current rules.  

If nothing changes, there is a risk the stocks and the fisheries dependent on them will collapse. This 
will  have  negative  impacts  on  predatory  fish  that  eat  anchovy  and  sardine,  and  negative  socio-
economic impacts for the fisheries sector and secondary sectors such as the processing industry. The 
most affected stakeholders are the Croatian and Italian fisheries sectors, and to a much smaller extent, 
those of Slovenia. The processing sector is a major  secondary sector, particularly in Croatia and Italy. 

2. Objectives and added value of the initiative 

The objectives of this proposal are to:  

 

 

achieve  and  maintain  maximum  sustainable  yield  for  anchovy  and  sardine  by  2020  at  the 
latest;  
achieve a sustainable fisheries sector; to provide an effective management framework which is 
simpler and more stable;  

  provide stakeholders with greater ownership; and  
 

facilitate the implementation of the landing obligation. 

This proposal is expected to ensure recovery of anchovy and sardine stocks by 2020 and to ensure the 
fisheries sector is sustainable, with improved salaries for fishermen (+4 % on average), and increased 
profitability for the fishing sector (+8 % on average). 

Since anchovy and sardine stocks and the fishing vessels concerned move freely across international 
boundaries,  action  at  Member  State  level  alone  is  unlikely  to  be  effective  in  achieving  the 
abovementioned objectives. For the measures to be effective, these should be taken in a coordinated 
manner and should apply to the whole area of stock distribution and to all fleets concerned. 

B. Solutions 

The policy options considered in this impact assessment included:  

  using non-legislative instruments (soft law);  
  maintaining the status quo as baseline scenario;  
  developing  an  EU  Regulation  with  the  objective  to  have  stocks  sustainably  fished  by  either 

2018 or 2020 (two sub-options); and  

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 

amending the current management framework (national and international legislation). 

The preferred choice proposed is the development of an EU Regulation laying down a 2020 deadline 
as it delivers on all the abovementioned objectives. 

None  of  the  stakeholders  consulted  raised  soft  law  as  a  feasible  option.  Only  one  stakeholder 
considered that the current framework is sufficient. All respondents except Malta felt that amending 
the  current  framework  would  not  be  sufficient.  The  Mediterranean  Advisory  Council  (consisting  of 
industry and civil-society representatives), NGOs, Public authorities, scientific institutes, and Croatia, 
Italy and Slovenia support the development of an EU Regulation, with a strong preference for the sub-
option ‘2020’.   

C. Impacts of the preferred option 

With  respect  to  benefits  of  the  preferred  option,  the  key  environmental  benefit  would  be  that 
anchovy  and  sardine,  after  years  of  overexploitation,  would  be  fished  sustainably  by  2020  and  the 
fishing sector would be healthier and sustainable. The current management framework would also be 
simpler,  more  stable  and  transparent  and  would  provide  greater  ownership  to  Member  States  and 
fishermen  as  they  could  be  involved  in  designing  some  of  the  management  rules.  The  increase  in 
sardine and anchovy is also likely to benefit larger and valuable predators such as bluefin tuna.  

By 2021, an EU multi-annual plan is likely to result in improved stocks (by around 20 % compared to 
the  status  quo)  and better  working  conditions  for  fishermen  (an  increase  in  salary  of  +/-  5 %  and  in 
profitability of +/-10 %). 

Regarding the costs of the preferred option, it is expected that by 2021, to ensure fishing levels can 
be  sustained  in  the  long-term  and  that  the  fishing  sector  is  sustainable  and  profitable,  catches  of 
anchovy  and  sardine  would  need  to  decrease  (+/-  25-30 %),  which  would  result  in  a  lower  total 
revenue  to  the  fishing  sector  (+/-  25 %)  and  a  decrease  in  employment  (+/-10 %).  This  concerns 
Croatia, Italy and to a minor extent Slovenian fishermen fishing with purse seiners or pelagic trawlers. 
As  catches  decrease,  prices  at  first  sale  are  likely  to  increase  could  compensate  to  some  extent  the 
reduced  revenues  of  the  fishing  sector  due  to  a  decline  in  catches,  but  would  be  negative  for 
consumers and the processing sector (in particular in Croatia and Italy), which may need to increase 
their imports from other countries. 

With respect to impact on SMEs, it is noted that the common fisheries policy is a policy specifically 
geared to deal with SMEs, which are the norm within the fishing sector, rather than the exception. In 
the  Adriatic  anchovy  and  sardine  fishery,  almost  all  fishing  businesses  and  the  vast  majority  of 
companies in the processing sector are micro-enterprises or SMEs. There are therefore no grounds to 
exclude them from the scope of this proposal on the basis of their size or else the vast majority of the 
sector  would  be  excluded  rendering  this  proposal  ineffective.  The  EU  multi-annual  plan  would 
therefore  apply  to  all  businesses  including  SMEs  and  micro-enterprises.  All  the  impacts  described 
above are therefore likely to apply to all enterprises, to a varying degree depending on how Member 
States will decide to allocate the required reductions in fishing to different fleet segments. 

No  impact  is  expected  on  national  budgets  of  Member  States  as  relevant  monitoring  and  data 
collection already takes place and only frequency would need to increase. 

Concerning  other  significant  impacts,  it  is  expected  that  the  improved  profitability  of  the  fishing 
sector  in  the  Adriatic  will  make  the  sector  more  competitive  and,  combined  with  improved  salaries, 
will make the sector more attractive. 

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D. Follow up 

With respect to the review of this policy, it is noted that the Commission would report to the European 
Parliament and to the Council on the implementation of the plan five years after the entry into force of 
the plan and every five years thereafter. 

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