Lot 1: Personnel protective equipment; Lot 2: Fishery inspection material; Lot 3: Outfits for working at sea.
The link to the tender documents will be public on 07/08/2023.
Lot 1: Personnel protective equipment; Lot 2: Fishery inspection material; Lot 3: Outfits for working at sea.
The link to the tender documents will be public on 07/08/2023.
Lot 1: Provision of IT Consultancy, Lot 2: IT Development, IT Security and IT Operations Services. The link to the tender documents will be public on 21/04/2023.
Provision of electricity for EFCA for a 3 month period
Provision of Energy Management Services to EFCA
The link to the tender documents will be public on 11/08/2023.
Today, the Administrative Board of the Community Fisheries Control Agency held its 5th meeting in Vigo. The main item on the agenda was the adoption of the proposal for a draft budget for the year 2008, which was accompanied by a staffing plan and a document outlining the options for next year's operational work programme.
The operational priorities for 2008 are in principle the same as in 2007: Joint Deployment Plans for the North Sea and adjacent areas and the Baltic Sea; coordination of control and inspections of bluefin tuna fisheries as well as involvement in the execution of the Community Action Plan to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fisheries (IUU). The Agency will also coordinate control and inspections in the regulatory areas of the North-west Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (NAFO) and the North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC). The final budget and work programme will be adopted by the Board in October.
The preliminary draft budget for 2008 would be substantially increased compared to the one in 2007, due to the increased activity of the newly operational Agency, and the costs of relocation to Vigo and foreseeable contractual services to the Member States at their request and expense. These services relate inter alia to control and inspections in connection with Member States' obligations in EU and international waters. One such action could be to charter an inspection vessel for joint inspections in the NAFO Regulatory Area on behalf of Member States.
Total budget 2007 (wholly contributed by the Community) | € 5.000.000 |
Total budget 2008 (including costs of relocation to Vigo and revenue for contractual services to Member States) | € 9.300.000 |
Community contribution 2008 | € 7.300.000 |
Another important item on the agenda was the timing and the arrangements for the Agency's relocation from Brussels to its seat in Vigo. The headquarter of the Agency will be located in a building designated by the Spanish authorities, which will be renovated and should be ready for occupation in May 2009. The Agency is now exploring, together with the Spanish authorities, the possibilities to find temporary office space in Vigo until the renovation is completed.
"There is full agreement between us and the Spanish authorities on the importance of relocating the Agency to its seat in Vigo as soon as possible, for the proper functioning of the Agency. Our discussions with the Spanish government have been constructive and held in a cordial atmosphere. I welcome the efforts made by Spain to find a practicable solution", commented Mr Harm Koster, Executive Director of the Agency.
EU Member States around the Baltic Sea are embarking on a period of intense co-operation in the area of fisheries control and inspection, co-ordinated by the Community Fisheries Control Agency (CFCA). The CFCA has developed a test joint inspection and surveillance scheme for the Baltic Sea cod stocks, with active participation of all eight Member States in the region, to fine-tune the mechanisms for Member State co-operation. Under this new form for cooperation, patrol vessels will enter into waters under the jurisdiction of other Member States to carry out inspections. The results of the tests will be highly relevant in the development of future Joint Deployment Plans.
This is the first time that the CFCA coordinates control and inspection activities with Member States in Community waters. The first test campaign will start on 7 May with Denmark as the lead partner. The campaigns are scheduled to continue until the end of the year.
"I am proud that the Agency has been able to pull together this scheme within the first four months of its existence. The Member States have invested a lot of effort in the development of this intensified co-operation, which aims to protect and rebuild the fragile Baltic cod stocks, ensure a level playing field for all fishermen in the area, and make best use of Member States control resources to work towards a culture of compliance. After each test campaign we will assess its strengths and weaknesses together with Member States to fine-tune the following campaigns. We will have a close dialogue with stakeholders through the Regional Advisory Council of the Baltic Sea, to make sure that their views can be taken into account at an early stage, as we develop the blueprints for future Joint Deployment Plans", commented Mr Harm Koster, Executive Director of the CFCA.
The Joint Inspection and Surveillance Scheme (JISS) is designed to deploy resources pooled by Member States (human resources as well as physical means of control and inspections, such as vessels, airplanes and infrastructure). The test campaigns, which will be carried out to identify the most efficient way of pooling resources and avoid unnecessary disruption of fishing activities, will be managed by a lead partner, helped and advised by an experienced coordinator from the CFCA. So far, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Latvia and Germany have been appointed to take the lead for different campaigns, which will be scheduled to take place at difference locations and times depending on the seasonal variations in the fisheries. The joint inspections will be carefully planned to make best use of the resources and to focus on areas with a high concentration of fishing activity at different times during the season, at sea as well as at the landing sites. Obviously, the detailed planning of the test campaigns will not be disclosed beforehand.
The multinational nature of the JISS means that a fishing vessel from one Member State, fishing in waters of a second Member State, can be hailed by an inspection vessel from a third Member State and boarded and inspected by Community inspectors from a fourth. For principal and practical reasons, all control and inspection vessels operating in the waters of a particular Member State will carry at least one inspector from that Member State.
The development of a JISS by the CFCA for the Baltic Sea cod stocks was decided in October 2006, when the fishing opportunities for Baltic Sea fish stocks were adopted by the Fisheries Council. The JISS can be seen as a forerunner of the future Joint Deployment Plan for the Baltic Sea cod stocks, which will be developed as soon as a specific control and monitoring plan has been adopted by the Commission.
Today, the Community Fisheries Control Agency (CFCA) adopted an operational plan for joint multi-national fishery controls in the North Sea and adjacent areas. This marks the start of an innovative and coordinated effort to combat over-fishing and save endangered cod stocks. This joint deployment plan for the North Sea will pool resources (inspectors, control vessels, aircraft, etc), from seven coastal Member States and use them to ensure more effective and uniform control of fishing activities. The plan, which consists of seven cross border inspection and surveillance campaigns, will run until the end of the year. Similar plans will be put in place in the other EU fishing areas.
"I very much welcome this first joint deployment plan under the aegis of the new Community Fisheries Control Agency. Such plans will ensure that available resources are used in the most efficient and effective way. The Member States involved show a very good example of cooperation both among themselves and with the new fisheries control Agency. Such plans will help increase fishermen's confidence and trust in more uniform fisheries control and inspection throughout the Union", commented Joe Borg, European Commissioner for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs.
"The adoption of the first joint deployment plan is a milestone for the Community Fisheries Control Agency. I am pleased that we have been able to coordinate this complex venture during the first six months of our Agency being in operation; and doubly pleased that the Member States have been so willing and able to contribute to our efforts! This gives rise to hopes that the benefits of the plan will stretch far beyond the seven inspection campaigns, to foster more cooperation overall, and further harmonisation of fisheries controls, thus creating a level playing field for fishermen in all EU waters", commented Harm Koster, Executive Director of the CFCA.
The joint deployment plan for the North Sea, Kattegat, Skagerrak and the Eastern Channel is the first of its kind. It coordinates the use of resources pooled by seven EU Member States: Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The focus of the plan is the monitoring programme for the recovery of cod stocks, which was established in 2005. The inspections and surveillance activities will concentrate on fishing vessels using gear types that are likely to catch cod either as a targeted fishery or as by-catch. There will also be inspections of transport and marketing of cod.
Each of the seven joint campaigns will be steered each time by one of the Member State, supported by the CFCA. The inspection teams will be mixed, and the inspection vessels and surveillance aircraft will be pooled from different Member States. Inspection vessels will be able to enter into the fishing zones of another Member State. They will, however, need the consent of that Member State for access to its territorial waters and should carry at least one inspector from the country concerned. The Member States have been requested to give prior consent for access to territorial waters by all inspections vessels and surveillance aircraft that will be used in the different campaigns.
Under the Common Fisheries Policy, each Member State is responsible for ensuring the proper application of fisheries measures in its own waters and on its own territory. In response to the need for a level playing field for EU fishermen, and to foster a culture of compliance with fisheries rules, the Community Fisheries Control Agency was established as part of the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) in 2002. Operational since the beginning of 2007, the Agency aims to organise coordination and cooperation between national control and inspection activities, so that the rules of the CFP are respected and applied effectively. The seat of the Agency is in Vigo, Spain. It is provisionally located in Brussels.