mr president let me express my thanks to the rapporteur mr visser ms fraga and the fisheries committee for the draft report on the commission's proposal for technical measures for the atlantic and the north sea
let me again express my gratitude to the rapporteur and the committee for their work on this proposal
this is a very technical file and as you are aware technical conservation measures in the atlantic and the north sea originate to a large extent from existing rules
in community legislation the measures are spread out in different regulations the nineteen ninety-eight general technical measures regulation for the atlantic and the north sea the additional technical measures regulation for the recovery of cod and hake and the annual tac and quota regulation which also contains a number of technical conservation measures
apart from this legal complexity the present rules are in some cases very complicated and difficult to implement and control
the commission adopted the proposal for a new regulation on technical conservation measures for the atlantic on four june of last year
the proposal was drafted after extensive consultation of stakeholders and member states during two thousand and six and two thousand and seven
it groups together all the relevant rules into one single legislative act which will therefore improve legal consistency
furthermore the proposal seeks to simplify clarify and streamline the various rules
special attention has been paid to simplifying onboard inspections and reducing the costs for fishermen
there are also some additional rules to reduce discards such as the establishment of a legal framework for real-time closures already applied in the north sea
a new decision-making structure is being proposed using a council-level decision for the general and essential provisions and comitology for the more detailed and technical region-specific provisions thereby avoiding micro-management at a political level
this new approach is not supported in your report where amendments one six seven twenty-five and twenty-six call for council regulations both for general and for detailed technical rules
the commission particularly in the framework of the cfp reform does not want to continue with micro-management measures at a political level
however taking into account the point made in the report regarding comitology the commission is ready to study any procedure which while maintaining comitology for regional technical rules will enable the raising at council level of any matter which appears to be essential or political
the commission can partially accept amendments two and three relating to additional illustrations of fishing gears if needed and to certain specific market provisions particularly on the minimum size of species with the aim of harmonising measures
in line with discard policy the commission is proposing new rules about real-time closures and moving-on provisions for specific fisheries in order to reduce discarding practices
both measures are considered to be efficient tools and in order to reduce discards are important in order to allow for a switch from rules dealing with landings to provisions on real catches
for that reason the commission cannot accept amendments four five twenty-one twenty-three and twenty-four
however amendment twenty only in so far as it calls for quantity to be replaced by weight to define the level of by-catch is acceptable
in addition we can positively consider the second part of the amendment regarding the derogations on distance
the parameters of such a derogation however would have to be studied in some detail and will be laid out in the implementing regulation
the commission mainly for inspection purposes intends to implement the one-net-rule provision which should be applicable to most european fisheries
the commission is ready to examine possible derogations for specific fisheries where these are justified and well argued and where they take into account the criteria set out in amendment eleven
such derogations should be part of the regional regulations
the other aspects of the commission's proposal are very technical with many details related to the construction and use of fishing gears in the atlantic
i note that the rapporteur and the fisheries committee also addressed the very technical elements of the proposal and suggested a number of amendments with the intention of improving the proposal
however i must express my reservations regarding amendments eight nine ten twelve thirteen fourteen fifteen sixteen and twenty-two
the technical rules proposed on the basis of scientific advice have been simplified in comparison with current legislation and will facilitate inspection on board and reduce costs for fishermen
the commission cannot accept amendments eighteen and nineteen since the provisions proposed are already in force subsequent to a political agreement in council on a proposal from the commission based on scientific advice and no new information is available to justify any modification
i can support the idea set out in amendment twenty-seven and therefore when introducing new technical measures the commission agrees to delay their entry into force so as to allow fishermen enough time to make the necessary adaptations
