Subject: Conservation and catch quota of South Atlantic shortfin mako
At last year’s meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) on the conservation of the South Atlantic (SA) stock of shortfin mako, the EU was allocated a retention quota of 503 tonnes for this species. However, in September 2022, the EU Scientific Review Group (SRG) had issued a negative opinion on shortfin mako, thereby barring imports of the species from the high seas as well as any exports.
1. In the absence of a positive opinion by the SRG, can the Commission confirm whether the catch quota for 2023 has been allocated to Member States (Spain and Portugal) based on the ICCAT quota and on which basis landing permits will be issued for these catches?
2. How much SA shortfin mako has already been retained or discarded by the Portuguese and Spanish fleets in January and February 2023, and how can the Commission ensure that neither the total mortality nor the allocated landing quota for the EU will be overrun in 2023 and 2024?
3. How can the Commission ensure that catch allocations, including the retention of live sharks, will neither result in the high-grading of mako catches in the SA nor undermine the existing retention ban in the North Atlantic?
Submitted: 22.3.2023
Answer given by Mr Sinkevičius on behalf of the European Commission (27 April 2023)
1. The shortfin mako quota allocated to the EU by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) at its last regular session, based on the scientific advice of its scientific body, has been enshrined in the EU fishing opportunities regulation (1) and is currently available to EU Member States. ICCAT rules do not require any landing permits, however, for shortfin mako, the rules of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) require the issuing of non-detrimental findings by the relevant national authorities.
2. The catches of fish stocks managed by ICCAT are reported in accordance with the applicable ICCAT obligations. Also, Article 33 of the Control Regulation (2) establishes monthly reports for stocks under quota. Member States are responsible for monitoring all aspects of the fishing activities of their fleets, including uptake and consumption of quotas, and are required to have in place robust processes for the collection, verification, and validation of catch and effort data that allow ensuring compliance with applicable obligations and meeting in a timely manner any reporting requirements (3).
3. Within the retention limit, any ‘high-grading’ of catches of shortfin mako sharks in the South Atlantic would breach the obligation to land all catches as per Article 15 of the regulation on the Common Fisheries Policy (4), as there is no exception for the South Atlantic shortfin mako sharks until 2025. The Commission has proposed the use of remote electronic monitoring (REM) on board fishing vessels to improve the control of the landing obligation (5) (6). The EU is also leading ICCAT’s efforts to promote the use of REM.
1 ∙ ⸱ Council Regulation (EU) 2023/194 of 30 January 2023 fixing for 2023 the fishing opportunities for certain fish stocks, applicable in Union waters and, for Union
fishing vessels, in certain non-Union waters, as well as fixing for 2023 and 2024 such fishing opportunities for certain deep-sea fish stocks. 2 ∙ ⸱ https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=celex%3A32009R1224 3 ∙ ⸱ Rules under the Common Fisheries Policy.
4 ∙ ⸱ Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013 on the Common Fisheries Policy, amending Council
Regulations (EC) No 1954/2003 and (EC) No 1224/2009 and repealing Council Regulations (EC) No 2371/2002 and (EC) No 639/2004 and Council Decision 2004/585/EC (OJ L 354, 28.12.2013, p. 22-61 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2013/1380/oj). 5 ∙ ⸱ Proposal for a revision of the Council Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 of 20 November 2009 establishing a Union control system for ensuring compliance with the
rules of the common fisheries policy.
6 ∙ ⸱ COM(2018)0368 currently under trialogue negotiations.
