Council Decision (EU) 2024/364 of 16 January 2024 on the position to be taken on behalf of the European Union in the Western Central Atlantic Fishery Commission and repealing Decision (EU) 2019/1563

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 43, in conjunction with Article 218(9) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,

Whereas:

1. The Union is a member of the Western Central Atlantic Fishery Commission (WECAFC), a regional fishery commission of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), established under Article VI (1) of the FAO Constitution.

2. The Union is a member of the FAO⁽¹⁾.

3. Pursuant to paragraph (h) of point 6 of the WECAFC revised statutes, the WECAFC may provide advice on management measures to member governments and competent fisheries organization. Because of its advisory status, the WECAFC’s resolutions are not binding on its members.

4. The WECAFC may adopt recommendations and resolutions on the conservation and management of living marine resources.

5. Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council⁽²⁾ provides that the Union is to ensure that fishing and aquaculture activities are environmentally sustainable in the long term and are managed in a way that is consistent with the objectives of achieving economic, social and employment benefits, and of contributing to the availability of food supplies. It also provides that the Union is to apply the precautionary approach to fisheries management and is to aim to ensure that exploitation of living marine biological resources restores and maintains the population of harvested species above levels which can produce the maximum sustainable yield. It further provides that the Union is to take management and conservation measures based on the best available scientific advice, to support the development of scientific knowledge and advice, to gradually eliminate discards and to promote fishing methods that contribute to more selective fishing and the avoidance and reduction, as far as possible, of unwanted catches, to fishing with low impact on marine ecosystem and fishery resources. Furthermore, Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 specifically provides that those objectives and principles are to be applied by the Union in the conduct of its external fisheries relations.

6. In line with the Communications from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions ‘EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 Bringing nature back into our lives’, ‘Forging a climate-resilient Europe – the new EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change’ and ‘A Farm to Fork Strategy for a fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly food system’, it is essential to protect nature and reverse the degradation of ecosystems. Climate change and loss of biodiversity are not to jeopardise the availability of the goods and services that healthy marine ecosystems provide to fishers, coastal communities and humanity at large.

7. The Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions ‘A European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy’ refers to specific measures to reduce plastics and marine pollution as well as the loss or abandonment at sea of fishing gear. Furthermore, the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions ‘Pathway to a Healthy Planet for All EU Action Plan: Towards Zero Pollution for Air, Water and Soil’ aims at reducing by 50 % plastic litter at sea and by 30 % micro-plastics released into the environment.

8. The Joint Communication to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions ‘Setting the course for a sustainable blue planet’ emphasises the importance of marine biodiversity protection and conservation under the Union’s external action. The Union is the most prominent actor in Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs) and fisheries bodies worldwide. There, the Union promotes the sustainability of fish stocks, promotes transparent decision making based on sound scientific advice, enhances scientific research, and strengthens compliance.

9. It is appropriate to establish the position to be taken on the Union’s behalf in the WECAFC in 2024-2028, as the WECAFC is called upon to adopt non-binding acts that are capable of decisively influencing the content Union law, namely Council Regulations (EC) No 1005/2008⁽³⁾ and (EC) No 1224/2009⁽⁴⁾, and Regulation (EU) 2017/2403 of the European Parliament and of the Council⁽⁵⁾.

10. Currently, the position to be taken on the Union’s behalf in the sessions of the WECAFC is established by Council Decision (EU) 2019/1563⁽⁶⁾. It is appropriate to repeal that Decision and to replace it by a new Decision which would cover the period 2024-2028.

11. In view of the evolving nature of fishery resources in the WECAFC’s area and the need for the Union’s position to take account of new developments, including new scientific and other relevant information presented before or during the sessions of the WECAFC, procedures should be established, in line with the principle of sincere cooperation among the Union institutions enshrined in Article 13(2) of the Treaty on European Union, for the year-to-year specification of the Union’s position for the period 2024-2028,

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