RECOMMENDATION FOR SECOND READING on the Council position at first reading in view of the adoption of a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing specific conditions for fishing for deep-sea stocks in the North-East Atlantic and provisions for fishing in international waters of the North-East Atlantic and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 2347/2002

6.12.2016 - (11625/1/2016 – C8-0427/2016 – 2012/0179(COD)) - ***II

Committee on Fisheries
Rapporteur: Isabelle Thomas

DRAFT EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION

on the Council position at first reading in view of the adoption of a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing specific conditions for fishing for deep-sea stocks in the North-East Atlantic and provisions for fishing in international waters of the North-East Atlantic and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 2347/2002

(11625/1/2016 – C8-0427/2016 – 2012/0179(COD))

(Ordinary legislative procedure: second reading)

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to the Council position at first reading (11625/1/2016 – C8-0427/2016),

–  having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee of 13 February 2013[1],

–  having regard to the opinion of the Commission (COM(2016)0667),

–  having regard to its position at first reading[2] on the Commission’s proposal to Parliament and the Council (COM(2012)0371),

–  having regard to Article 294(7) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

–  having regard to Rule 76 of its Rules of Procedure,

–  having regard to the recommendation for second reading of the Committee on Fisheries (A8-0369/2016),

1.  Approves the Council position at first reading;

2.  Notes that the act is adopted in accordance with the Council position;

3.  Instructs its President to sign the act with the President of the Council, in accordance with Article 297(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union;

4.  Instructs its Secretary-General to sign the act, once it has been verified that all the procedures have been duly completed, and, in agreement with the Secretary-General of the Council, to arrange for its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union;

5.  Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council, the Commission and the national parliaments.

• [1]  OJ C 133, 9.5.2013, p. 41.
• [2]  Texts adopted of 10.12.2013, P7_TA(2013)0539.

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Following the adoption of Parliament’s first-reading position in plenary on 10 December 2013, the Council considered the proposal in detail between January 2014 and November 2015, which was when negotiations aimed at reaching an agreement at second reading started with the Luxembourg Presidency.

Following the trilogue of 17 November 2015, and the subsequent trilogues of 26 April, 25 May and 14 and 30 June 2016, which took place with the Netherlands Presidency, Parliament’s and the Council’s negotiating teams reached an agreement on the proposal on 30 June 2016.

The text of the agreement was put to the vote in the Committee on Fisheries on 12 July 2016, and was approved by an overwhelming majority. On that basis, the committee chair undertook in his letter to the chair of Coreper to recommend to plenary to approve the Council position at first reading without amendment. Following a legal-linguistic verification, the Council adopted its first-reading position confirming the agreement on 18 October 2016.

As the Council’s first-reading position is consistent with the agreement reached in the trilogues, your rapporteur recommends that the committee adopt it without further amendments. Your rapporteur would like to highlight in particular the following elements of the compromise:

- The European Union is going to freeze its fishing footprint by specifying the area in which deep-sea fishing will be allowed. That area includes the area in which targeted fishing took place between 2009 and 2011 in EU waters in the North-East Atlantic. This geographical boundary will apply to vessels targeting deep-sea species, i.e. those whose deep-sea species catch makes up more than 8% of the total on at least one fishing trip during the year.

- Parliament has secured specific penalties for vessels breaching the regulation on deep-sea fishing and a stipulation that no exemptions will be granted to certain rules.

- The Parliament and Council negotiators have agreed on a depth limit of 800 metres. This new measure is intended to protect vulnerable deep-sea marine ecosystems more effectively.

- Similarly, the co-legislators have agreed that vessels found to be fishing in vulnerable marine ecosystems at a depth in excess of 400 metres will have to stop their operations and move at least five nautical miles away from the fishing area in question.

- Parliament has introduced new, stricter transparency rules by including obligations to make information available to the public on European vessels targeting deep-sea species and to report all catches (fish and vulnerable ecosystems). Member States will also be required to provide information on the location of vulnerable ecosystems (impact assessments) and the Commission will assess this data annually and adapt the allowed fishing area accordingly (by means of implementing acts).

- In an effort to ensure that scientific data is collected, 20% of vessels will be required to have a scientific observer on board.

PROCEDURE – COMMITTEE RESPONSIBLE

Title	Specific conditions to fishing for deep-sea stocks in the North-East Atlantic, provisions for fishing in international waters of the North-East Atlantic and repeal of Regulation (EC) No 2347/2002
References	11625/1/2016 – C8-0427/2016 – 2012/0179(COD)
Date of Parliament’s first reading – P number	10.12.2013                     T7-0539/2013
Commission proposal	COM(2012)0371 - C7-0196/2012
Receipt of Council position at first reading announced in plenary	27.10.2016
Committee responsible        Date announced in plenary	PECH 27.10.2016
Rapporteurs        Date appointed	Isabelle Thomas 22.7.2014
Previous rapporteurs	Isabelle Thomas
Discussed in committee	10.11.2016
Date adopted	5.12.2016
Result of final vote	+: –: 0:	22 1 0
Members present for the final vote	Marco Affronte, Clara Eugenia Aguilera García, Renata Briano, Richard Corbett, Linnéa Engström, Carlos Iturgaiz, António Marinho e Pinto, Gabriel Mato, Ulrike Rodust, Remo Sernagiotto, Isabelle Thomas, Ruža Tomašić, Peter van Dalen, Jarosław Wałęsa
Substitutes present for the final vote	Izaskun Bilbao Barandica, José Blanco López, Ole Christensen, Ian Duncan, Anja Hazekamp, Maria Heubuch, Mike Hookem, Verónica Lope Fontagné, Francisco José Millán Mon, Maria Lidia Senra Rodríguez
Date tabled	6.12.2016