Landing obligation – Omnibus regulation enters into force

Following the adoption of the omnibus regulation in the European Parliament’s plenary on the 27th April 2015, the Agriculture and Fisheries Ministers’ Council gave, on its part, the green light on the agreed text on the 11th May 2015. As foreseen in the procedure, the regulation is consequently published in the Official Journal of the EU where it will enter into force 3 days after its publication.

The “omnibus regulation”, amongst others:

• Instructs the European Commission to provide an annual report on implementation of the requirement to land by-catch.
• Gives a 2 year grace period to fishermen on sanctions pertaining to the landing obligation to allow them to adapt to this new fishing behaviour
• The requirement to stow undersized fish separately by species was removed.
• Fishermen having catches of a species in excess of 50 kg will be exempted from recording their catch in the fishing logbook.
• A mechanism has been put in place via the Common Market Organisation to prevent the emergence of a parallel market for previously discarded fish.

Landing obligation – Omnibus regulation (Official Journal of the European Union)

Photo credit: European Commission