Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on a multiannual recovery plan for Bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean repealing Regulation (EC) No 302/2009

The proposal aims at transposing into Union law measures of the multiannual Bluefin Tuna (BFT) recovery plan in the Eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean adopted by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) at its annual meetings between 2012 and 2014. ICCAT is the Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (RFMO) responsible for the management of tuna and tuna-like species in the Atlantic Ocean and adjoining seas to which the Union is a Contracting Party. The multiannual recovery plan for BFT was established in 2006 and entered into force in 2007.

The ICCAT has the authority to adopt decisions (“recommendations”) for fisheries conservation and management in its area of competence; these acts are binding and essentially addressed to the ICCAT Contracting Parties but also contain obligations for operators (for example the vessel master). The ICCAT recommendations enter into force six months following their adoption and, in the case of the European Union, must be enacted into Union law to the extent to which they are not already covered by Union legislation.

Certain ICCAT BFT measures were transposed through Regulation (EU) No 544/2014 of 15 May 2014 which amended Council Regulation (EC) No 302/2009 of 6 April 2009. The purpose of that amendment was to transpose the measures on fishing seasons adopted by ICCAT in 2012 and 2013. With a view to ensure uniform and effective application throughout the European Union of all measures of the Recovery plan adopted between 2012 and 2014, the current proposal will incorporate them into a Regulation concerning a multiannual recovery plan for BFT in the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean. This Regulation will repeal Council Regulation (EC) No 302/2009.

• Primary Source

EUR-Lex: COM(2015)180: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2015:180:FIN

ESO: Background information: International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic's Tuna (ICCAT) 2014: Sustainable increase for Bluefin tuna quota supported by science http://www.europeansources.info/record/press-releaseinternational-commission-for-the-conservation-of-atlantics-tuna-iccat-2014-sustainable-increase-for-bluefin-tuna-quota-supported-by-science/

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