Meeting of EU Fisheries Ministers

© Xavier Remongin / Min.Agri.Fr

• On: 29.09.2008
• In: Bruxelles, Bibliothèque Solvay

The French Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, Michel Barnier, is meeting with his 26 European counterparts to draw up a review of the Common Fisheries Policy to prepare its revision by 2012.

Michel Barnier, the French Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, is to bring together his twenty-six EU counterparts, along with Joe Borg, the European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries and Philippe Morillon, the Chair of the Committee on Fisheries at the European Parliament, for a meeting in Brussels with European fisheries ministers on the morning of 29 September 2008.
At this informal meeting, Michel Barnier will hold a policy debate on the conservation of fisheries resources and fishing fleet management, ahead of the planned amendment of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), which was set up in 1983, last reformed in 2002, and due for reform no later than 2012.
New fishing management measures, in addition to limits on catches, such as limiting the number of vessels, their size, and number of days at sea, etc., have been implemented to scale down fishing operations. Nonetheless, many difficulties remain (safety issues arising from the choice of definitions for limitations, mismatches between allocated fishing opportunities and realities at sea, etc.).
Barnier intends to launch a debate on the following topics:

• The precision of the CFP targets: how can sustainable exploitation be defined in operational terms?
• The management of fishing activity: how can the catch limit system be improved? Should it be enhanced and or/replaced with a system for limiting fishing vessel activity? How can the latter be calculated?
• How can account be taken of safety and energy dependence-related issues?
• How can management measures be best tailored to biological data? How quickly can we react to scientific observations?
• Division of responsibilities between European institutions and Member States, particularly with regard to quota allocation and management.

The meeting will end with a lunch, allowing for the discussions to be continued.
This meeting will be the first opportunity under the French Presidency for discussion between the Member States, in association with the Commission, on initial orientations for reforming the CFP. This initiative will facilitate the opening of a genuine debate on the perspectives the EU wishes to give for more sustainable and more responsible fisheries.

Meeting of the EU fisheries ministers - Main results (Report)

• Updated: 29.09.2008

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