Proposal for a Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EU) No 1258/2012 of 28 November 2012 on the allocation of the fishing opportunities under the Protocol agreed between the European Union and the Republic of Madagascar setting out fishing opportunities and the financial contribution provided for in the Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the two parties currently in force

On the basis of a mandate from the Council, the European Commission conducted negotiations with the Republic of Madagascar with a view to renewing the Protocol to the Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the European Community and the Republic of Madagascar. At the end of the negotiations a new Protocol was initialled on 10 May 2012. The new protocol covers a period of two years as from 1 January 2013.

Specifically, the Protocol provides for fishing opportunities for 34 surface longliners of a tonnage greater than 100 GT and for 22 surface longliners of a tonnage less than 100 GT. Part of the longliners’ catches consists of sharks which, in terms of fisheries, are associated with tuna and similar species and are covered by measures adopted by the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC).

Based on the latest opinions and recommendations of the Scientific Committee of the IOTC, and taking into account the vulnerability to fishing pressure of the shark species concerned, the Parties find it appropriate to limit the catches of these species in the Madagascar fishing zone to a level below, or equal to, the level of recent years.

At the most recent meeting of the Joint Committee set up under the Fisheries Agreement, the Parties thus agreed to set the level of authorised shark catches by EU longliners at a maximum of 200 tonnes annually for two years as from 1 January 2013, thereby freezing the fishing pressure on the basis of track records for the EU fleet, as validated for the 2007-11 period by scientific institutes in the EU.

The method for allocating fishing opportunities among the Member States thus needs to be defined. The Commission proposes, on this basis, that the Council adopt the Regulation.

• Primary Source

EUR-Lex: COM(2013)488: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2013:488:FIN

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