Proposal for a Council Regulation fixing for 2014 the fishing opportunities for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks, applicable in EU waters and, for EU vessels, in certain non-EU waters

All fishing opportunities regulations must limit the harvesting of the fish stocks to levels which must be consistent with the overall objectives of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). In this respect, Council Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002 of 20 December 2002 on the conservation and sustainable exploitation of fisheries resources under the Common Fisheries Policy sets out the objectives for the annual proposals for catch and fishing effort limitations to ensure that Union fisheries are ecologically, economically and socially sustainable.

The fishing opportunities exercise represents an annual management cycle (biennial in the case of deep sea stocks). However, this does not stand in the way of the introduction of long-term management approaches. The Union has made good progress in this regard and key stocks of commercial interest are now subject to multi-annual management plans. Yearly TACs and effort ceilings must comply with them.

For 2014, the Commission has taken into account the wishes of Member States to return to one single text for the general fishing opportunities regulation, as opposed to the approach taken in 2012 and 2013. In each of those years two separate texts were proposed and adopted: one for fishing opportunities on which the EU decides alone and another one comprising the fishing opportunities that are fixed on the basis of decisions taken in the framework of bilateral or multilateral negotiations. Accordingly, the structure and recurring text of this proposal has been based on merging such separate regulations adopted in 2013.

EUR-Lex: COM(2013)753: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2013:753:FIN

ESO: Background information: Commission proposes fishing opportunities in the Atlantic and North Sea for 2014 http://www.europeansources.info/record/press-release-commission-proposes-fishing-opportunities-in-the-atlantic-and-north-sea-for-2014/

---