Multiannual plan for small pelagic fish stocks in the Adriatic Sea [EU Legislation in Progress]

Written by Irina Popescu (3rd edition, updated on 14.11.2020),

Multiannual fisheries management plans are essential tools for the sustainable exploitation of marine resources, offering better predictability over time and a framework for improved cooperation between Member States at sea basin level. As part of a series of such plans adopted since the last reform of the common fisheries policy, the European Commission put forward, in February 2017, a proposal for a multiannual plan intended to manage fisheries of small pelagic fish stocks (anchovy and sardine) in the Adriatic Sea. These stocks, which have long been in a poor state, are exploited mainly by fishing vessels from Italy and Croatia, and to a smaller extent from Slovenia. They are managed under a complex legal framework at EU, regional and national level, which includes, since 2017, setting annual catch limits for the concerned Member States.

With the multiannual plan for Adriatic small pelagic stocks, the Commission proposed, among other changes, to introduce a longer-term system of setting allowable catches – a major shift in fisheries management in this area, traditionally based on fishing effort. The Parliament examined the proposal and adopted a legislative resolution in November 2018, making significant modifications to the plan and opposing the proposed catch limits system. The Commission considered that the amended plan was not fit for purpose, and subsequently withdrew the proposal

Versions

• November 2020: ‘Multiannual plan for small pelagic fish stocks in the Adriatic Sea‘ (3rd edition)