Multiannual plan for Baltic fisheries [EU Legislation in Progress]

‘EU Legislation in Progress’ briefings aim to provide Members of the European Parliament with systematic and automatic analysis on all substantial proposals for EU legislation at every stage of the legislative procedure. Each contains an account of the purpose, content and legal aspects of the legislation proposed, in particular analysing what the legislation would change, as well as any previous legislation and the background. An overview of stakeholders’ views is also provided, as well as the opinions of national parliaments and the two advisory committees.

They are all made publicly available for stakeholders and the public.Multiannual plans for fisheries management are an essential tool to ensure the sustainable exploitation of fish stocks and marine ecosystems. They also offer increased predictability to fishermen in the long run. In October 2014, the European Commission proposed a multiannual plan for stocks of cod, herring and sprat in the Baltic Sea and for the fisheries exploiting them. This Baltic multiannual and multispecies plan is the first proposed plan to build on the principles of the 2013 reform of the Common Fisheries Policy. Seen as a test case, it may have some spill-over effect on new proposals for multiannual plans, some of which are expected from the European Commission in the near future.

The Council adopted its general approach on 20 April 2015, and the European Parliament voted on legislative amendments in plenary on 28 April 2015, before referring the matter back to the Committee on Fisheries. Interinstitutional trilogue negotiations, which started in May 2015, have however proven lengthy and difficult. While discussing the priorities of the Council Presidency at the meeting of the Committee for Fisheries in mid-January 2016, the Dutch Fisheries Minister and the Parliament’s rapporteur expressed their willingness and hope to come to a satisfactory agreement.

Following approval by the European Parliament and Council of the European Union in June 2016, Regulation (EU) 2016/1139 entered into force on 20 July 2016.

Written by Jean Weissenberger (1st edition).

• Primary Source

EP: EPRS: Briefing: EU Legislation in Progress http://epthinktank.eu/eu-legislation-in-progress/

ESO: Background information: MEPs vote for sustainable fishing in the Baltic Sea http://www.europeansources.info/record/meps-vote-for-sustainable-fishing-in-the-baltic-sea/

ESO: Background information: Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a multiannual plan for the stocks of cod, herring and sprat in the Baltic Sea and the fisheries exploiting those stocks, amending Council Regulation (EC) No 2187/2005 and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 1098/2007 http://www.europeansources.info/record/proposal-for-a-regulation-of-the-european-parliament-and-of-the-council-establishing-a-multiannual-plan-for-the-stocks-of-cod-herring-and-sprat-in-the-baltic-sea-and-the-fisheries-exploiting-those-st/

ESO: Background information: 'Baltic plan': first long-term fishing plan under new Common Fisheries Policy http://www.europeansources.info/record/baltic-plan-first-long-term-fishing-plan-under-new-common-fisheries-policy/

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