The European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA) has the ambition of assisting Member States and the European Commission to develop simple and cost efficient methods for monitoring and ensuring compliance with the obligation to land all catches.
A project to improve the accurate recording of discards in context of the JDPs is being launched with the following objectives:
It is with great sadness that we announce the sudden passing of the current Chairman of EFCA Administrative Board, Mr. Jörgen Holmquist, on 28 March. Mr Holmquist had held the position since October 2011and had been recently reelected for a three year term.
The European Fisheries Control Agency has organised a workshop on monitoring and control of Eastern bluefin tuna fishery in the ICCAT (International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna) on the 25-26 March 2014 in Vigo, Spain, gathering representatives from both EU countries in the Mediterranean as well as other ICCAT contracting parties such as Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria and Turkey.
The EFCA has adopted its annual report for 2013 at the meeting of the Administrative Board held on 13 of March. The annual report comprised all the activities undertaken by the EFCA during last year. 2013 has been a year of preparation in readiness for the application of the new Common Fisheries Policy features.
The European Fisheries Control Agency organised a seminar which was hosted by Croatia in Dubrovnik on January 15th and 16th 2014. The seminar adressed control aspects of the implementation of the discard ban introduced as part of the reformed Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) package. Representatives from Member States and the European Commission as well as a wide and balanced range of representation of stakeholders from the Advisory Councils and scientific organisations attended this forum.
The new features of the Common Fisheries Policy basic regulation require to adapt the inspection and control regime accordingly. Consequently, the European Fisheries Control Agency needs to remodel its Joint Deployment Plan concept in close cooperation with the European Commission and the Member States.
In order to adress the control of the discard ban, the European Fisheries Control Agency has taken the initiative of organising a seminar hosted by Croatia IN Dubrovnik on January 15th and 16th 2014.
The EFCA has adopted its Multiannual Work Programme for 2014-2018 and the Annual Work Programme at the meeting of the Administrative Board held on 15 of October 2013. Moreover, the budget adopted in the meeting for 2014 is of €9,217,150, almost the same figure as the final budget of 2013, and subject to the definitive adoption of the EU Budget for 2014 by the Budgetary Authority in the coming weeks.
Following the five year external evaluation of the European Fisheries Control Agency activities, the EFCA Administrative Board asked to develop a method for assessing the cost-effectiveness of control operations for Member States. Subsequently, the creation of two Focus Groups to evaluate general trends in compliance levels and to assess cost effectiveness of control operations was included in the Multiannual Work Programme for 2013-2017 and the work programme for 2013.
For the sixth year, the European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA) coordinates the Joint Deployment Plan (JDP) for the Blue Fin Tuna fishery in the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Atlantic waters for 2013. Under this JDP, Member States pool their control and inspection means, both material and human, in order to carry out jointly control, inspection and surveillance of fishery activities both at sea and ashore. All these activities are coordinated by a team of national coordinators and EFCA coordinators based in the premises of the EFCA.
The European Fisheries Control Agency has presented the new tools to develop a culture of compliance in a reformed Common Fisheries Policy at the European Parliament. Indeed, in the context of the new policy being designed, the EFCA, within its mandate, is ready to contribute to the success of the new CFP and the key features of regionalisation and discard ban and develop the necessary tools.