Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF) Landing obligation in EU fisheries (STECF-13-23) This report was reviewed by the STECF during the 44TH plenary meeting held from 4 to 8 November 2013 in Brussels Edited by Norman Graham & Hendrik Doerner Report EUR XXXXX EN European Commission Joint Research Centre Institute for the Protection and Security of the Citizen Contact information STECF secretariat Address: TP 051, 21027 Ispra (VA), Italy E-mail: [email protected] Tel.: 0039 0332 789343 Fax: 0039 0332 789658 https://stecf.jrc.ec.europa.eu/home http://ipsc.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ http://www.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ Legal Notice Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on behalf of the Commission is responsible for the use which might be made of this publication. This report does not necessarily reflect the view of the European Commission and in no way anticipates the Commission’s future policy in this area. 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Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, EUR XXXX EN, JRC XXXX, 115 pp. Printed in Italy TABLE OF CONTENETS Landing obligation in EU fisheries (STECF-13-23) ................................................................... 4 Background ................................................................................................................................. 4 Request to the STECF ................................................................................................................. 4 Observations of the STECF ........................................................................................................ 4 Conclusions of the STECF ......................................................................................................... 5 Expert Working Group EWG-13-16 report ................................................................................ 6 1 Executive summary ...................................................................................................... 7 2 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 15 3 Terms of Reference for EWG-13-16 .......................................................................... 20 4 Issues relating to exemptions based on high survival ................................................. 22 4.1 Guidelines and best practice for discard survival studies ........................................... 22 4.2 Objective framework for defining high survival ........................................................ 42 4.3 Stock impacts of landings surviving discards ............................................................. 45 4.4 Predefined list of species and fisheries ....................................................................... 51 5 Issues relating to de minimis exemptions and Quota Flexibility ................................ 52 5.1 Potential Impacts of de minimis ................................................................................. 52 5.2 Triggering of de minimis conditionalities .................................................................. 54 5.3 Potential Impacts of the Quota flexibility tool ........................................................... 57 5.4 Potential cumulative effects of de minimis and quota flexibility ............................... 60 6 Issues relating to Catch estimation ............................................................................. 62 6.1 Comparison and Categorisation of STECF and ICES catch estimates ....................... 62 6.2 Electronic annexes to section 6 ................................................................................... 87 7 Issues relating to Control Monitoring and Enforcement ............................................ 88 7.1 Definition of “detailed and accurate catch documentation” ....................................... 88 7.2 Comparison of observer and logbook documentation of catch .................................. 90 7.3 Evaluation of control tools and contribution to the landings obligation .................... 91 7.4 Control and enforcement issues associated with De minimis and quota flexibility ... 97 7.5 Implications for current “at-sea” catch monitoring programmes ............................... 98 8 Issues relating to the Development of Discard Plans Development of guidelines to facilitate regional plans ............................................................................................. 100 9 Conclusions ............................................................................................................... 103 10 References ................................................................................................................. 106 11 EWG-13-16 List of Participants ............................................................................... 111 12 List of Background Documents ................................................................................ 115 3 SCIENTIFIC, TECHNICAL AND ECONOMIC COMMITTEE FOR FISHERIES (STECF) Landing obligation in EU fisheries (STECF-13-23) THIS REPORT WAS REVIEWED DURING THE PLENARY MEETING HELD IN BRUSSELS, 4-8 NOVEMBER 2013 Background Article 15 of the new CFP Basic Regulation (BR) recently agreed by the European Parliament and the Council, introduced a discard ban or landing obligation. This represents a fundamental shift in fisheries policy. The final text agreed by the Council and European Parliament includes a number of exemptions and flexibility tools that raise issues for implementation, catch forecasting, stock assessment and control and monitoring. The European Commission has requested STECF and ICES to consider these issues. At a scoping meeting involving STECF and the ICES Secretariat held during the summer plenary of STECF these issues were discussed and a draft work plan agreed between STECF and ICES of how to address them. Request to the STECF STECF is requested to review the report of the STECF Expert Working Group, evaluate the findings and make any appropriate comments and recommendations. Observations of the STECF The meeting of EWG 13-16 is the first of several intended STECF meetings addressing the issue of landing obligations for EU fishing fleets. The next meeting (EWG 13-17) is already planned for 26 th -28 th November 2013. The EWG 13-16 report highlights that there are a number of interpretational issues relating to the de minimis exemptions described in Article 15 of the the basic regulation. It is unclear whether these exemptions are meant to apply at a MS level or can be cumulative across MSs. Similarly, it is unclear whether these exemptions should apply at the individual species level or for all species combined. Regarding inter-species quota flexibilities, it is unclear whether the so-called ‘donor’ quota was intended to be provided at the individual vessel level, at fleet level or at Member State or regional level and whether the donor quota is restricted to single or multiple species, as ’target-species’ is not defined. The inter-species quota flexibility and the de minimis provisions can provide flexibility in the system to better adjust catch compositions to resemble fishing opportunities and increase both ecological and economic sustainability. However, depending on how the text in the regulation is interpreted, which and in which sequence these flexibilities are used the same provisions could be used to legally increase catches well in excess of desired or intended levels. STECF observes that the report identifies a number of important factors that will require careful consideration, if negative and unintended consequences are to be avoided. 4 STECF notes that any detailed rules that are made to implement the landings obligations will create several new restrictions, opportunities and incentives. Hence, before being finalised and agreed, STECF considers that proposed new rules should be carefully scrutinized to identify what business incentives they create for fishing-business owners and therefore what the responses of fishing-business operators are likely to be. In short, proposed new rules should be tested for unintended and undesired consequences. STECF notes that the EWG 13-16 compiled an interesting and valuable spreadsheet comparing the time series of catch data held by ICES and STECF, which indicates that discrepancies between the two data sources has decreased in recent years. The report also proposes which data are the most appropriate to use for discard estimates. STECF observes that EWG 13-16 addressed the important issue of control and enforcement in relation to the landing obligation, and that these aspects should be considered an important part of future discussions. Conclusions of the STECF Based on the findings in the report of the EWG 13-16,