Proposal for a Council Regulation amending Regulation (EU) 2015/104 as regards certain fishing opportunities for seabass

Council Regulation (EU) 2015/104 fixed for 2015 the fishing opportunities for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks applicable in Union waters and, for Union vessels, in certain non-Union waters. These fishing opportunities are usually amended several times during the period in which they are in effect.

In its proposal for Regulation (EU) 2015/104, the Commission included measures for the protection of the stock of seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) in the North East Atlantic. In June 2014, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) released scientific advice on this stock, which has been in rapid decline since 2012. Furthermore, the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisherires (STECF) considered that in general current national measures for the protection of seabass have proved ineffective. Seabass is a late maturing and slow growing species. The fishing mortality on this stock is currently four times higher than the level which would ensure maximum sustainable yield (MSY).

The Commission proposal included a limit on catches by recreational fishermen, a so-called "bag limit", and a set of measures addressing the commercial fishery for the species. These measures were not retained by the Council and are therefore absent from Council Regulation (EU) 2015/104.

The Commission is now in the process of adopting measures aimed at urgently reducing the fishing mortality of seabass in the Northeast Atlantic. These measures target the commercial fishery for seabass. Given the contribution of recreational fisheries to the fishing mortality of this species, a catch limit for recreational fishermen needs to be introduced in the Fishing Opportunities Regulation for 2015.

• Primary Source

EUR-Lex: COM(2015)41: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2015:041:FIN

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