The European Union and Cape Verde have agreed on a new Protocol to the Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the European Union and Cape Verde. The four-year Protocol will replace the current Protocol which expires on 31 August 2014.
Maria Damanaki, European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, and Jacob Vestergaard, Fisheries Minister of the Faroe Islands, met in Athens on 29 August. The discussions were held in a friendly and constructive atmosphere and followed Commissioner Damanaki’s visit to the Faroe Islands in December last.
Deadline for applications is 6 October 2014.
The European Commission has reached the halfway mark in its adoption of each Member State's "Partnership Agreement". Partnership agreements between the European Commission and individual EU countries set out the national authorities' plans on how to use funding from the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) between 2014 and 2020. They outline each country's strategic goals and investment priorities, linking them to the overall aims of the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.
The Commission has today repealed the measures adopted against the Faroe Islands in August 2013 following their unsustainable fishery on Atlanto-Scandian herring. The measures imposed at the time will now be lifted as of 20th August 2014.
The ten Member States that declared having exceeded their fishing quotas in 2013 will face reduced fishing quotas for those stocks in 2014. The European Commission announces these deductions on a yearly basis to immediately address the damage done to the stocks overfished in the previous year and ensure a sustainable use by Member States of common fishery resources. Compared to last year, the number of deductions made went down by 22%.
EU vessels fishing shrimps and small pelagics in Mauritanian waters in the framework of the EU-Mauritania Fisheries Protocol will be able to continue to do so until 15 December 2014. This is part of the compromise which EU negotiators found last night in Nouakchott after the Mauritanian authorities had upheld the position that all EU vessels would have to leave Mauritanian waters as of 1 August 2014.
The EU's General Affairs Council has adopted legislation to improve the planning of maritime activities. The new Maritime Spatial Planning Directive will help Member States develop and coordinate various activities taking place at sea so that they are as efficient and sustainable as possible.
After the European Commission had warned three countries - Curaçao, Ghana and Korea - that they were not doing enough to fight illegal fishing in November 2013, it will now grant each country an extra six months to improve the situation. The Commission will review their progress made at the end of this period.
The European Commission has expressed its disappointment with the outcomes of the 87th Annual meeting of the Inter American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC), which finished on 18 July in Lima, Peru.
The European Commission welcomes Morocco’s ratification of a Fisheries Protocol which is set to open the door for European vessels to go back fishing in Moroccan waters after a pause of more than two years. The European Union and Morocco had concluded the 4-year fisheries deal in December 2013, however its entry into force was pending ratification by Morocco.
The EU and Mozambique met in Maputo, Mozambique, on 9-11 July 2014, to launch negotiations on the renewal of the Protocol to the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement due to expire on 31 January 2015. The negotiations were conducted in an open and frank atmosphere with progress made on identifying the areas where there was agreement and those where further work is required.
The European Commission today took a further step towards more effective and cost-efficient surveillance of European Seas. By bringing together surveillance data from civil and military authorities like coast guards, navies, traffic monitoring, environmental and pollution monitoring, fisheries and border control, duplication of work can be avoided and savings of up to €400 million per year can be made.
The European Commission is looking for organisations to join the recently established structured dialogue group of experts on the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF). Among others areas, this is particularly relevant for the Common Fisheries Policy and the Integrated Maritime Policy, through the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF).
The European Commission has published its annual consultation paper on the state of fish stocks and the preparation for setting next years' fish quotas.
Fish stocks in the North and West of Europe are recovering, but there are still serious problems of overfishing in the Mediterranean Sea.
In response to the concerns raised by several citizens about animal welfare in fish farming, the European Commission would like to clarify that the health and welfare of farmed fish is important for EU aquaculture.
The Council today endorsed an EU maritime security strategy as a framework for effectively and comprehensively addressing the EU's maritime security challenges.
On 19 June 2014, the EU and Madagascar initialled a new 4 year-Protocol to the Fisheries Partnership Agreement with Madagascar, the EU’s second largest one in the Indian Ocean.
