Pulse fishing. (Photo: Low Impact Fisheries Europe)

European Parliament calls for total ban on pulse fishing

EUROPEAN UNION
Wednesday, January 17, 2018, 02:00 (GMT + 9)

The European Parliament (EP) supported on Tuesday rules on how, where and when it is possible to fish in the European Union (EU), and called for a total ban on fishing using electrical impulses.

The new rules - which update and combine more than 30 regulations - establish a common framework on gear and fishing methods, minimum authorized size of catches, and limitations on fishing in certain areas or in specific periods. They also include measures to adapt to the needs of each basin.

The plenary session of the EP approved an amendment demanding the total prohibition of the so-called pulse fishing, which uses electric impulses to drag the fish from the sea beds to the nets. The change was supported by 402 MEPs, while 232 voted against and 40 abstained.

Among the measures taken to stop the capture of juveniles, the following stand out:

•  prohibition of certain fishing gear and methods (such as explosives, toxic substances, pneumatic hammers and projectiles, in addition to   electricity),
•  general restrictions on the use of towed gear and fixed nets,
•  details on the species of fish, crustaceans and mollusks whose fishing is prohibited,
•  limit the catches of marine mammals, marine birds and marine reptiles, with special provisions on especially vulnerable habitats,
•  prohibit practices such as "qualitative selection", which involves discarding low-priced fish that are subject to catch limits, although they could have been landed legally, in order to maximize the value of the catches.

As regards regional measures, these include, among other aspects, minimum reference sizes for conservation, and closed or restricted areas. The Member States and the European Commission will have 18 months from the entry into force of the Regulation to adopt regional standards on mesh sizes.

However, it will be possible to deviate from these regional standards by submitting a multi-annual regional fisheries plan or, in the absence of such a plan, by a decision of the European Commission. Countries may submit joint recommendations to this end, and MEPs ask them to "base their recommendations on the best available scientific advice."

The Spanish MEP Gabriel Mato, parliamentary speaker of the text, considered that the current situation is impractical, complex and too rigid.

"We all agree on the need for simplification. It is not a matter of reinventing the rules, but of making them clearer and simpler to apply," he explained. He also stressed that decision-making will be facilitated to national and regional authorities in line with the framework regulations.

The plenary session has given the green light to the negotiators of the Fisheries Committee to begin talks with the Council of Ministers, with a view to agreeing on the final formulation of the Regulation.
 

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