Press releases

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Ministers are holding a series of meetings in parliamentary committees to present the priorities of the Belgian Presidency of the Council.

The new rules for the conservation, management and control of fisheries in the North-East Atlantic Commission area, already agreed with Council, were approved by MEPs on Monday.

The members of the Committee on Fisheries gave their consent to new rules to allow vessels from Seychelles to fish in the waters of Mayotte beyond 24 nautical miles from its coasts.

The European Parliament expressed on Wednesday its concern over Norway’s decision that could lead to the commercial mine exploitation of part of the Arctic seabed.

MEPs updated the conservation and control measures in the ICCAT area as well as the multiannual management plan for bluefin tuna in the Atlantic and Mediterranean.

Ports in the North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission area, where landings superior to 10 tonnes of certain pelagic stocks occur, will need to install surveillance systems for landings.

MEPs criticise the Commission’s proposal to ban mobile bottom fisheries in marine protected areas and want reforms of the EU common fisheries strategy to address specific issues.

MEPs validated the new protocol of the fisheries agreement with Kiribati, allowing EU vessels to resume fishing tuna for 160 days a year in exchange for support of its fisheries sector.

According to the Fisheries Committee, the opposition between the industry and the protection of biodiversity has reached a dead end, even as both objectives can be achieved simultaneously.

The fight against IUU fisheries would be more effective, MEPs say, if there was an EU approach, including for import controls, and a digitalisation of IUU catches.