Common Fisheries Policy (CFP)

Background    

The Committee held evidence sessions on the European Commission’s proposals for the new Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) in 2011 in the lead up to the Commissions new policy being implemented. The main proposals of the new policy included a discard ban by 2016 when fishermen would be obliged to land all catches (except those which can survive being discarded); a commitment to reach Maximum Sustainable Yield by 2015 for all species; and a proposal that all Member States must establish Tradable Fishing Concessions (TFC) with the aim to reduce the capacity of the EU fleet.  

Evidence  

Further informationon the evidence heard by the Committee during its consideration is detailed below.

Committee conclusions

Following its consideration, the Committee wrote to UK Government and Scottish Government (copied to the Westminster Committees); the European Commissioner; and the European Parliament’s fisheries committee outlining the Committee's main conclusions.

• Click to read the contents of this letter (189KB pdf)
• Response from EU Commissioner Damanaki to Convener 13 January 2012 (1.3MB pdf)

Evidence

Oral evidence

The Committee took oral evidence at its meetings on 14 September, 2 and 9 November 2011.

Read the meeting papers and the Official Report (2011)

• Supplementary written evidence - Scottish Fishermen's Federation (Committee meeting 2 November 2011)