The European Court of Auditors published a Special Report aimed at answering the question “has the EU an effective fisheries control system in place?”. The report found that the Member States and the Commission have made progress in several areas but that due to significant weaknesses the EU did not yet have a sufficiently effective system for fisheries controls in place to support the success of the CFP. Member States had not yet fully implemented the EU’s fisheries control regulation and certain provisions of the regulation would need modification to enable Member States to effectively control fisheries activities. Member States did not sufficiently verify the accuracy of their fleets' capacity and of the information on the vessels in the fleet register. Although Member States monitored vessels using satellite-based tracking technology, 89 % of the vessels in the EU fleet were not monitored in this way. They also criticised lack of transparency in quota distribution to beneficiaries. Some provisions related to small scale fisheries also leave loopholes in the legislation, preventing a full monitoring of fishing activities and rigorous monitoring of fishing quotas uptake, particularly in the Mediterranean Sea. The Commission issued a press release welcoming the findings of Special Report, considering it provides “an excellent opportunity for the EU to strengthen the control legal framework”.

Megapesca(Lda) Portugal