COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE IMPACT ASSESSMENT Accompanying the document Proposal for REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL establishing a multiannual plan for fish stocks in the Western Waters and adjacent waters, and for fisheries exploiting those stocks, amending Regulation (EU) 2016/1139 establishing a multiannual plan for the Baltic Sea, and repealing Regulations (EC) No 811/2004, (EC) No 2166/2005, (EC) No 388/2006, (EC) 509/2007 and (EC) 1300/2008
Date: 2018-04-18
Institutions: Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, European Commission
Subjects: Atlantic Ocean, authorised catch, catch by species, catch quota, conservation of fish stocks, deep-sea fishing, fishing area, fishing controls, fishing rights, sea fish

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 18.4.2018  SWD(2018) 113 final  COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE IMPACT ASSESSMENT  Accompanying the document Proposal for REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL establishing a multiannual plan for fish stocks in the Western Waters and adjacent waters, and for fisheries exploiting those stocks, amending Regulation (EU) 2016/1139 establishing a multiannual plan for the Baltic Sea, and repealing Regulations (EC) No 811/2004, (EC) No 2166/2005, (EC) No 388/2006, (EC) 509/2007 and (EC) 1300/2008 {COM(2018) 149 final/2} - {SWD(2018) 112 final}  
 
 
Impact assessment on a proposal for a Regulation of the EP and the Council establishing a multiannual plan for 
demersal stocks and their fisheries in western EU waters 

Executive Summary Sheet 

Why? What is the problem being addressed? 

A. Need for action 

In the EU's Western waters most demersal fisheries catch several species together in one fishing operation. The 
problem  is  that  the  current  rules  foresee  fishing  opportunities  as  if  the  fish  were  caught  separately.  In  reality 
however, several species are caught together and the biological state of fish stocks with lower quotas depends 
on other, higher quota stocks, caught in the same mixed fisheries. This leads to a situation where once the lower 
quotas are exhausted, fishermen continue targeting other fish with higher quotas. They will however continue to 
have  fish  in  their  nets,  where  the  quotas  are  already  exhausted  and  will  discard  them  until  2019  when  the 
obligation to land all catches will come fully into force. This leads to overfishing of those fish  stocks with lower 
quotas and it means we cannot increase the number of sustainably fished stocks. As of 2019 such a governance 
framework of having quotas, which are not in sync with each other will lead to early closures of fisheries where 
quotas  are  still  available.  Such  a  situation  could  also  cause  a  lack  of  industry  buy-in  into  the  management  of 
these fisheries. 

What is this initiative expected to achieve? 

The initiative is expected to achieve a management framework that can ensure that fish stocks in western waters 
are environmentally sustainable in the long-term and are managed in a way that is consistent with the objectives 
of achieving economic, social and employment benefits, and of contributing to the availability of food supplies. 
The initiative would allow the mixed character of these fisheries in Western waters to be taken into account when 
setting future fishing opportunities and quotas, instead of the current, single species, quota system. 

What is the value added of action at the EU level? 

Fish  stocks  and  fishing  vessels  move  freely  across  national  waters  and  international  boundaries.  Action  at 
individual Member State level alone is therefore unlikely to be effective in managing fisheries. The added value 
of action at EU level is hence that we can ensure to have effective management measures taken, which would 
be binding for all Member States and all vessels fishing on demersal fish in western waters. This would ensure 
achieving the objectives of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) of a sustainable management of fish stocks and 
achieving economic, social and employment benefits. 

B. Solutions 

What  legislative  and  non-legislative  policy  options  have  been  considered?  Is  there  a  preferred 
choice or not? Why? 

Three options have been considered: 
Option 1 (Baseline scenario) using the existing tools of the CFP such as quota setting and regulating technical 
measures (the rules on how and where to fish) and existing single-species management plans. 
Option 2: Replace the existing plans with one mixed fisheries multiannual plan (MAP) for Western Waters 
Option 3: Replace the existing plans with two mixed fisheries multiannual plans covering the North-Western and 
South-Western waters 
Both for the mandatory and the optional elements of MAPs, policy choices need to be made. For example; on 
the use of FMSY ranges, which can have positive or negative effects, depending upon their use. For the analysis, 
options  2  and  3  were  compared  to  the  baseline,  option  1.  Environmental,  socio-economic  and  administrative 
impacts and their effectiveness, efficiency, coherence and acceptability were all considered in the analysis. The 
preferred  option  is  to  have  one  multiannual  plan  covering  all  Western  waters  (option  2)  as  this  option  has 
performed  best  to  deliver  a  consistent  management  framework  for  mixed  fisheries.  This  option  also  allows 
simplification and transparency as stakeholders would have one management plan only to apply and they can 
agree measures in regionalisation.  

Who supports which option? 

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Only  two  Member  States  addressed  this  in  the  targeted  consultation,  and  both  agreed  that  Multi-annual  plans 
such  as  Options  2  and  3  are  preferable  to  Option  1,  which  they  viewed  as  ineffective  or  to  be  used  as  a  last 
resort only. 

What are the benefits of the preferred option (if any, otherwise main ones)? 

C. Impacts of the preferred option 

It is not possible to quantify the direct economic or social benefits from sustainable fisheries, but it is certain that 
healthy  stocks  provide  the  best  long  term  security  in  terms  of  income  and  employment  from  fisheries.  The 
qualitative analysis demonstrates that the option of creating one mixed fisheries multiannual plan for all western 
waters, scores best on the following criteria: 

  Effectiveness and Efficiency  
  Reducing administrative burden 
  Achieving the overall main objectives of the CFP 
  Provides a management framework facilitating stability and predictability for the fishing industry 

The preferred option is the best way forward to ensure effective and sustainable management of mixed fisheries 
in Western waters. This will eventually benefit fishermen, downstream industry (processing, retail) and ultimately 
consumers.  

What are the costs of the preferred option (if any, otherwise main ones)? 

In  terms  of  environmental  impacts,  the  outcome  could  only  be  positive  compared  to  the  status  quo.  It  is  not 
possible to quantify the direct economic or social short term negative impacts that would result from either one or 
two  MAPs,  but  negative  impacts  are  expected  to  be  minor  in  the  short  term,  and  would  be  outweighed  by 
positive impacts in the long term. The administrative costs are considered less with the preferred option of one 
MAP for the Western Waters. The MAP would establish the necessary framework for sustainable management 
in line with the objective of the policy. Management of fisheries is already taking place, and the initiative would 
merely improve the framework.  

How will businesses, SMEs and micro-enterprises be affected?  

In  the  status  quo,  the  fishing  fleets  directly  bear  the  increased  fishing  costs,  and  at  the  same  time  suffer  the 
immediate consequences of low fishing yields, and quota cuts led by the need to rebuild stocks. Poor yields and 
poor economic performance would affect also all the downstream related industries. The large majority of fishing 
businesses in the catch sector are small or medium-sized enterprises (SME) or even micro-enterprises. About 
99.5% of the firms own 5 vessels or less and employ around 10 crew members or less and around 92% of the 
fleets  own  just  one  vessel  and  employ  around  two  crew  members  (micro-enterprises).  In  general  the 
environmental,  social  and  economic  impacts  of  the  initiative  will  be  positive  in  the  medium  and  long  term  as 
stocks are expected to be more robust and would increase over time. Increased stocks will allow an increase in 
fish quotas for the industry and this in turn will improve and stabilise their income. 

Will there be significant impacts on national budgets and administrations? 

No, the initiative would make the existing management framework more effective, without significant impacts on 
national budgets and administrations. 

Will there be other significant impacts? 

The initiative will simplify fisheries management in Western waters by combining many species and fisheries into 
one plan. It will also deliver on regionalisation, a major pillar of the Common Fisheries Policy which aims to focus 
at  EU  level  on  general  targets  and  objectives,  while  leaving  concrete  implementation  to  be  developed  by 
regional groups of Member States, to allow for regional specificities to be taken into account. 

When will the policy be reviewed? 

D. Follow up 

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Under  the  assumption  that  the  MAP  for  demersal  fisheries  in  western  EU  waters  are  adopted  by  the  end  of 
2018, a first evaluation could take place by the end of 2023. 

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