New rules for managing the EU external fishing fleet

Briefing 15-02-2018

The European Parliament and the Council have adopted a new Regulation on the sustainable management of external fishing fleets, which replaces the 'Fishing Authorisations Regulation' 1006/2008, and covers all EU vessels fishing outside EU waters, as well as third-country vessels fishing in EU waters. The regulation revised the system of issuing and managing fishing authorisations, so as to improve monitoring and transparency of the EU external fishing fleet. It extended the scope of the authorisation system to include practices such as private agreements between EU companies and third countries, and abusive reflagging operations. Member States are required to authorise fishing vessels using common eligibility criteria, complemented by specific conditions depending on the nature of the authorisation. Part of the electronic fishing authorisations register, showing who fishes for what and where, will for the first time be publicly accessible. Fifth edition. The ‘EU Legislation in Progress’ briefings are updated at key stages throughout the legislative procedure. To view earlier editions of this briefing, please see: PE 608.651, July 2017.