Source: World Fishing
MEPs have backed the renewal of an EU-Comoros fisheries protocol which expired on 31 December.
The new protocol allocates fishing opportunities to 70 vessels - 45 tuna seiners and 25 surface longliners from France, Italy, Portugal and Spain - compared to 57 under the previous arrangements.
With the annual reference tonnage cut from 6,000 to 4,850 tons, the financial contribution to the Union of the Comoros will fall from €390,000 to €315,250 per year.
The EU will provide additional funding of €300,000 annually, primarily to build or extend existing infrastructure to enable EU vessels to land their catches in Comorian ports rather than transporting them as far as to the Seychelles, which, apart from being costly, has proved dangerous due to the activity of pirates in the Western Indian Ocean.
In other votes his week, Parliament gave its approval to new rules on imports of fishery products and by-products from Greenland. This legislation will enable Greenland to trade its fishery products and by-products within the EU under internal market rules provided it complies with EU sanitary, animal health and food safety standards.
MEPs also approved a regulation extending existing transitional technical measures with regard to conservation of fishery resources until the end of 2012. By then the Commission is expected to present its proposal for a new, permanent regulation.
Finally, Parliament backed changes to a regulation on financial measures for the implementation of the Common Fisheries Policy designed to ensure its coherence with other relevant legislation. In addition, the new regulation will ensure that international bodies in charge of stock assessments can receive proper EU funding.