Amendments to Article 47

No doubt thanks to the level of feeling, political pressure and maybe even a bit of common sense as the EU admit “Recreational Fishing has exploded in the media and dominates all discussion on the proposal. What the Commission is proposing is not clear from the text.”

Consequently several amendments to Article 47 are expected, these are :

Original
1. Recreational fisheries on a vessel in Community waters on a stock subject to a multiannual plan shall be subject to an authorisation for that vessel issued by the flag Member State.

Amendment
1. Non-Commercial Fisheries conducted from a vessel in Community marine waters on a stock subject to a multiannual plan shall be evaluated by the Member State in whose waters they are conducted.
Fishing with rod and reel from shore shall not be included.

Original
2. Catches in recreational fisheries on stocks subject to a multiannual plan shall be registered by the flag Member State.

Amendment
2. Within two years of the date of entry into force of this Regulation, Member States shall estimate the impact of Non-Commercial Fisheries conducted in their waters and submit the information to the Commission. The relevant Member State and the Commission, on the basis of the advice of the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries, shall decide which Non-Commercial Fisheries
are having a significant impact on stocks.
Within three years of the date of entry into force of this Regulation, that Member State, in close cooperation with the Commission, shall develop a monitoring system for fisheries having a significant impact that includes licences and a means of accurately estimating the total catches for each fish stock. Non-Commercial Fisheries shall comply with the objectives of the Common Fisheries Policy.

Original
3. Catches of species subject to a multiannual plan by recreational fisheries shall be counted against the relevant quotas of the flag Member State. The Member States concerned shall establish a share
from such quotas to be used exclusively for the purpose of recreational fisheries.

Amendment
3. Catches of species subject to a monitoring system under paragraph 2 shall be counted against the relevant quotas of the flag Member State. The Member States concerned may establish a share from such quotas to be used exclusively for the purpose of recreational fisheries.

New
(7a) "Non-Commercial Fisheries" means any fisheries in marine waters including, inter alia, sports fishing, recreational fishing and tournaments, conducted from a vessel which is not required to have a Community fishing licence pursuant to Commission Regulation (EC) No 1281/2005 of 3 August 2005 on the management of fishing licences and the minimal information to be contained therein.

The term "non-commercial fishing" is clearer than the term"recreational fishing" and should be defined to avoid confusion.

This probably means

• Hake, cod, plaice, eel, and sole are to be included for consideration
• Assessments made by UK governments on RSA catches of these species within two years
• Then Scientists/commission will decide which RSA captures are considered to be having a significant impact on stocks
• After three years monitoring system in place including licenses and perhaps logbooks for those species we are considered to be having a significant impact on stocks
• RSA catches on those species above shall be included in member states quota system
• The Member States concerned shall establish a share from such quotas to be used exclusively for the purpose of recreational fisheries.

It’s too early to tell if RSA will be considered to have an affect on stock mortality of the above species. I guess it depends where they set the benchmark. It is still not clear where the quota will come from.

The various press releases by Mr Borg and the text above indicate that shore anglers will not be affected irrespective of the species they fish for.

Category: SSACN Announcements