During its meeting of 5 March 2015, the EFCA Administrative Board adopted the annual report for 2014, which comprised all the activities undertaken by the EFCA during the last year. The EFCA staff assisted the Member states and the European Commission in the preparation of the monitoring of the landing obligation including the rolling out of new data network systems as required by the Control Council Regulation, the making of additional modules of the Core Curricula for the training of fisheries inspectors and the synergies developed within the Member States regional fora for joint efforts for the monitoring of the then future landing obligation. In addition, as the landing obligation includes some species not covered by a specific control and inspection programme, the EFCA Administrative Board approved an expanded cooperation approach with the Member Stated coined as PACT for Partnership, Accountability (compliance), Cooperation and Transparency.
The coordination of the ongoing five Joint Deployment Plans reached a significant intensity with an increase of 20% of the inspections in the different areas compared to the previous year, which have led to around 12600 inspections. Five Joint Deployment Plans have been implemented and the development of a year-round activity continued, covering a wider range of species with permanent exchange of information and intelligence.
"The EFCA contributed to assist the smooth implement of the new features of the reformed Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) and particularly worked hard with the Member States to prepare the monitoring of the landing obligation by brokering cooperation, promoting interoperability and building common capacities," said Pascal Savouret, Executive Director.
| ALL JOINT DEPLOYMENT PLANS | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Days of activity | 1568 | 2206 | 2675 |
| Total inspections | 9037 | 8881 | 12752 |
| Total infringements | 534 | 563 | 739 |
| Ratio of infringements per inspection | 0.06 | 0.06 | 0.005 |
The Administrative Board endorsed the results of the seminar on the monitoring of the landing obligation which took place yesterday. The seminar endorsed that the EFCA will continue cooperating with the Member States regional fora on request to facilitate compliance, harmonisation and a level playing field, to strengthen and extend the cooperation to more species when appropriate and to facilitate inter-regional cooperation.