Today in Strasbourg, the Socialists and Democrats Group put their weight behind two important dossiers aimed at making EU fisheries in the Baltic Sea more sustainable and ending wasteful discard. Today's votes follow a radical reform of the EU fisheries policy (CFP), introduced in 2014.
S&D spokesperson on fisheries, Ulrike Rodust MEP said:
"Despite the tough negotiations at the beginning of the year, which threatened to water down the achievements of the CFP reform, the rules adopted today on the landing obligation will immediately enter into force for certain species and set also a clear timetable up to 2019, when they will apply to all the stocks.
"The original line of the conservative rapporteur was to limit the regulation to species for which the CFP reform requires a landing obligation as of January 2015. This would have required new regulations on the landing obligation and would have left European fishermen in a state of great uncertainty".
Welcoming the outcome of the vote on the multi-annual plan for the Baltic Sea stocks of cod, herring and sprat, Rodust added:
"For the first time, we have implemented the principle that the amounts of fish caught are limited to their capacity to reproduce, and that these values are based on the latest scientific advice. In that sense, the multi-annual plan for the Baltic Sea could serve as a blue print for the next management plans for fish stocks in other regions.
"As European Parliament negotiator on this dossier, I am pleased that we have received a strong mandate in today's votes. However, negotiations with the EU governments in the Council will be tough, as not all of them have understood the urgency for a more sustainable approach. The excessively high quotas they set in the past have brought European fish stocks to the brink of collapse and threaten the future of European fishermen."
