This regulation will provide legal clarity to the EU's fishermen as to which rules apply when they fish under the purview of these RFMOs and catch fish which falls under the new EU's landing obligation. The landing obligation applies to all EU vessels fishing in the EU and non-EU waters, as well as to third-country vessels fishing in the EU waters.
 
In some Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs) there are rules that oblige fishermen not to bring on board or land certain fish. With regard to the landing obligation that came into effect this year, such rules exist for bigeye tuna, Eastern Atlantic Bluefin tuna and Atlantic swordfish in the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), and for capelin in the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) area.
 
In order to ensure legal certainty, the delegated regulation that came into effect on 24 January 2015 will permit the fishermen of the European Union vessels and those of other countries fishing in EU waters to continue applying the above mentioned RFMO rules. EU fishermen will be able to respect RFMO rules which currently are not entirely in line with the EU's landing obligation.

In parallel, the European Commission seeks a level playing field for EU operators by promoting the elimination of discards in RFMOs. In the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (NAFO), for instance, a working group was established upon EU proposal to examine the discard situation and find ways to reduce them.

For further information

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/98