DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR INTERNAL POLICIES POLICY DEPARTMENT B: STRUCTURAL AND COHESION POLICIES FISHERIES THE LANDING OBLIGATION AND ITS IMPLICATIONS ON THE CONTROL OF FISHERIES STUDY This document was requested by the European Parliament's Committee on Fisheries. AUTHORS Ocean Governance Consulting: Christopher Hedley Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science: Tom Catchpole, Ana Ribeiro Santos RESPONSIBLE ADMINISTRATOR Marcus Breuer Policy Department B: Structural and Cohesion Policies European Parliament B-1047 Brussels E-mail: [email protected] EDITORIAL ASSISTANCE Adrienn Borka Lyna Pärt LINGUISTIC VERSIONS Original: EN ABOUT THE PUBLISHER To contact the Policy Department or to subscribe to its monthly newsletter please write to: [email protected] Manuscript completed in September 2015. © European Union, 2015. Print ISBN 978-92-823-7938-7 doi:10.2861/694624 QA-02-15-709-EN-C PDF ISBN 978-92-823-7939-4 doi:10.2861/303902 QA-02-15-709-EN-N This document is available on the Internet at: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/studies DISCLAIMER The opinions expressed in this document are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position of the European Parliament. Reproduction and translation for non-commercial purposes are authorized, provided the source is acknowledged and the publisher is given prior notice and sent a copy. DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR INTERNAL POLICIES POLICY DEPARTMENT B: STRUCTURAL AND COHESION POLICIES FISHERIES THE LANDING OBLIGATION AND ITS IMPLICATIONS ON THE CONTROL OF FISHERIES STUDY Abstract This study reviews the impacts of the new Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) rules requiring catches in regulated fisheries to be landed and counted against quotas of each Member State ("the landing obligation and requiring that catch of species subject to the landing obligation below a minimum conservation reference size be restricted to purposes other than direct human consumption. The study estimates the level of discarded fish likely to be covered by the new rules, the impact of the rules on EU fisheries and the regulatory challenges and responses to them. IP/B/PECH/IC/2014_20 September 2015 PE 563.381 EN The Landing Obligation and its Implications on the Control of Fisheries _____________________________________________________________________________________________ CONTENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 5 LIST OF TABLES 7 LIST OF BOXES 8 LIST OF FIGURES 8 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 9 GENERAL INFORMATION 15 1. THE LANDING OBLIGATION 17 1.1. History of discards management in the EU 17 1.2. The landing obligation 18 1.3. Implementation of the landing obligation 21 2. ESTIMATION OF UNWANTED CATCHES 23 2.1. Materials and methods 23 2.2. Landings and Discards by Country and Fishery 27 2.3. Quality of the data 35 3. PORTS AFFECTED BY THE LANDING OBLIGATION 37 3.1. Materials and methods 37 3.2. Estimation of undersized discards per landing port 38 3.3. Status of infrastructure to handle unwanted catches 39 3.4. Comments 40 4. FINAL DESTINATIONS OF CATCHES 45 4.1. Materials and methods 46 4.2. Utilisation opportunities for unwanted catches 46 4.3. Commercial viability 49 4.4. Comment 49 5. NEW REGULATORY APPROACHES 51 5.1. Electronic monitoring systems 51 5.2. Other control measures 56 5.3. Technical measures 57 5.4. Data management 59 6. CURRENT PRACTICES IN MONITORING DISCARDS AND OTHER FISHERIES ACTIVITIES 61 6.1. Third countries 62 6.2. Member States 72 3 Policy Department B: Structural and Cohesion Policies _____________________________________________________________________________________________ 7. SOCIAL AND BEHAVIOURAL IMPACTS 77 7.1. Impact of the landing obligation 77 7.2. Motivation to change selectivity 78 7.3. Black market trade 82 8. ANALYSIS AND RECOMMENDATIONS: ADAPTING THE REGULATORY FRAMEWORK 85 8.1. Current adaptations 85 8.2. Enforcing the landing obligation 87 8.3. Accompanying measures 90 8.4. Adapting the regulatory approach 93 REFERENCES 95 ANNEXES 103 ANNEX 1: LIST OF QUOTA SPECIES USED IN THE REPORT 103 ANNEX 2: OVERALL LANDINGS, DISCARDS AND DISCARD RATES PER COUNTRY AND GEAR 104 ANNEX 3: LIST OF EUROPEAN PORTS WITHOUT LANDINGS INFORMATION 112 ANNEX 4: QUESTIONNAIRE 113 4 The Landing Obligation and its Implications on the Control of Fisheries _____________________________________________________________________________________________ LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ABP animal by-products AFMA Australian Fisheries Management Authority AIS automated information system ALK age length keys CCTV closed circuit television CFP Common Fisheries Policy CQMS catch quota monitoring scheme DATRAS Database of Trawl Surveys DCF Data Collection Framework EFAD European Fish Auction DataNet ELB electronic log book EM electronic monitoring EMFF European Maritime and Fisheries Fund ER electronic reporting EU European Union FAO Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations FDF fully-document fishery ICES International Council for the Exploration of the Sea IMR Institute of Marine Resources (Norway) ITQ individual transferable quota MCRS minimum conservation reference size MCS monitoring, control and surveillance 5 Policy Department B: Structural and Cohesion Policies _____________________________________________________________________________________________ MLS minimum landing size MRIP Marine Recreational Information Program (United States) MS Member State NMFS National Marine Fisheries Service (United States) REM remote electronic monitoring RTC real-time closure STECF Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee on Fisheries TAC total allowable catch uMLS under minimum landing size VMS vessel monitoring system 6 The Landing Obligation and its Implications on the Control of Fisheries _____________________________________________________________________________________________ LIST OF TABLES Table 1 Fishery aggregations and descriptions used in presentations of discards estimates 25 Table 2 Overview of the STECF and ICES areas included in the report 25 Table 3 Landings (t), discards (t) and proportion of discards under minimum landing size (uMLS), by country and gear; table sorted in descending order on the average catch 2010-2012 within each country 30 Table 4 Landings (t), discards (t) and proportion of discards under minimum landing size (uMLS), by country and species; table sorted in descending order on the average catch 2010-2012 within each country 32 Table 5 Summary of the major ports where unwanted catches would be landed estimates of the volume (tonnes) that would be landed and assessment of the infrastructure that is in place to handle unwanted catches destines for non-human consumption 41 Table 6 Summary of utilisation opportunities across Member States 47 Table 7 Comparison of costs of on-board observers and REM/CCTV 56 7 Policy Department B: Structural and Cohesion Policies _____________________________________________________________________________________________ LIST OF BOXES Box 1 The "Landing Obligation" 18 Box 2 Requirements for undersized fish 18 Box 3 Requirements for monitoring compliance 19 Box 4 Inter-species flexibility derogation 19 Box 5 Year-to-year flexibility derogation 20 Box 6 De minimis exemption 20 Box 7 North East Coast Net Grid Trials 80 Box 8 Size Composition and Selectivity of Haddock Trials 80 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 Estimated undersized discards (t) generated by fishery and country (beam trawls, otter trawls) 29 Figure 2 Estimated undersized discards (t) generated by fishery and country (netters, longlines, seines) 29 Figure 3 Estimated undersized discards (tonnes), by species 34 Figure 4 Capabilities comparison – single observer vs. single REM vessel / analyst 53 Figure 5 Cost comparison – single observer vs. single REM vessel / analyst 54 Figure 6 Hypothetical 20% observer coverage: 116 Observers 400 REM Vessels 11 REM Analysts 55 8 The Landing Obligation and its Implications on the Control of Fisheries _____________________________________________________________________________________________ EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Background The 'new CFP basic Regulation' (European Parliament and Council Reg. No.1380/2013) establishes a phased introduction of a landing obligation (also known as the discard ban) under which catches of regulated species (principally fish which are subject to catch limits, or in the Mediterranean, minimum sizes) must be landed and counted against quotas of each Member State. The landing obligation starts on 1 January 2015 for pelagic fisheries, and introduces other fisheries through to 1 January 2019. The introduction of the landing obligation to land all catches was one of the most significant reform elements in the new CFP, and represents a fundamental shift in the management approach to EU fisheries as quotas now control what is caught at sea, rather than what is landed onshore. Under Article 15(11) of the new CFP basic Regulation, which deals with the landing obligation, use is restricted to purposes other than direct human consumption, including fish meal, fish oil, pet food, food additives, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. The expectation is that the landing requirement combined with the restriction to non-human consumption purposes will encourage fishers to internalise the costs of catching unwanted fish and motivate them to avoid unwanted catch, for example by altering their fishing practices. However, these measures can only go so far and unwanted catches will inevitably continue to occur. Consequently, Member States need to address the problem of how to manage these unwanted