Question 5547 — hunting and fishing

Summary

The Council of European Ministers of Agriculture and Fisheries of December 11 and 12, 2017 adopted, for the year 2018, restrictive measures for both professional fishing and recreational fishing. They take into account the scientific opinion issued by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) testifying to the very poor biological state of the so-called North stock, north of the 48th parallel North. These scientific opinions are the only authentic ones for the European Commission. The ICES distinguishes between two stocks of sea bass, on either side of the 48th parallel North, this has given rise to differentiated management. Furthermore, the biological state of the southern stock resource being better than that of the North, it was not justified to impose the same measures in the Bay of Biscay as those implemented in the North. Bass fishing was a very sensitive subject during the Council of Ministers in December, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Food worked to defend the interests of professional fishing and recreational fishing. It should be remembered that for the latter, the initial proposal from the European Commission was to establish a total moratorium from January 1 to June 30, then a “no-kill” practice authorized from July 1 to December 31. The Government is aware efforts that have already been made by recreational fishermen on this species, and understands that the measure adopted arouses protests among them. Nevertheless, the Government has obtained that the results of the European Council on total allowable catches and quotas of December 2017 are accompanied by a declaration allowing an adaptation of management measures for recreational fishing, during the course of the year 2018, based on the results of the ICES review meeting for the northern sea bass stock. If scientific advice allows it, the Government will do everything possible to advocate for such a development.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

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