Standards of inspection and standards of control

1. Standards of inspection and standards of control Reflections in the context of the Reform of the Control Regulation

2. Inspection standards • Court of Auditors report • Responsibility of Member States • Minimum requirements of inspections (triennial reports) • Specific monitoring programmes benchmarks • Role of the Community Fisheries Control Agency • FAO/UN Port State control

3. General principles MS • Inspect all fishing activities in their own waters • Ensure compliance of its vessels when fishing in international waters or in the waters of Third countries • Non-discriminatory • Mutual assistance and cooperation between MS and with the CFCA

4. General Principles Inspectors • Clear identification • Drawn a report for each inspection • Identity of the responsible persons • Fishing authorisations • Relevant documentation • Relevant findings

5. Minimum requirements of inspections at sea • Pre-inspection preparation • Check of surveillance and fishing rights • Fish • Assessment of quantity and species on board • Check for compliance with minimum sizes • Check for separate stowage • Fishing gear • Measurement of mesh size(s) and twine thickness of nets in use and/or on board • Check of attachments, gear geometry and beam length • Assessment of compliance by reference to catch composition on board • Check of marking of passive gear • Documents • Examination and comparison with fish on board and fishing gear: • Ship’s registration papers • Logbook • Fish hold and stowage plan • Fishing permits/licences • VMS • Use of real-time VMS data prior to the inspection. • Confirmation of existence and accuracy of functioning VMS equipment.

6. Minimum requirements of landings inspections • Pre-inspection preparation • Check of surveillance and fishing rights • Check of notifications • Fish • Inspection on arrival in port and during landing • A continuous monitoring of all fish landed. • Assessment of quantity and species • Check for compliance with minimum sizes • Check of fish hold after discharge • Gear • Assessment of cod end mesh size and twine thickness of trawls. • Comparison with catch composition on board and logbook • Check of passive gear marking • Documents • Examination and comparison with fish on board and fishing gear: • Ship’s registration papers • Logbook • Fish hold and stowage plan • Fishing permits/licences • Notifications • VMS • Use of real-time VMS data prior to the inspection.

7. Minimum requirements of inspection on markets and processing premises • Note of fishing vessel identity and declared area of capture • Assessment of quantity and species • Check of compliance with grading and labelling • Check for compliance with minimum sizes including those for marketing • Comparison with notification, logbook, transport document, landing declaration and sales notes.

8. Minimum requirements of inspection on transport checks • Note of identity of catching vessel • Assessment of quantity and species of fish • Check of transport document contains required information and cross check with fish on board. • Check for compliance with minimum sizes

9. Minimum requirements of cross-check • Comparison of data recorded on the logsheet with • VMS • Notification • Sightings • Allocated days at sea and other stock recovery measures • Fishing permits/licences • Comparison of data recorded on the landing declaration with: • Logsheet • Sales note/take over document • Transport document • Comparison of VMS data with • Logsheet • Sightings • Allocated days at sea and other stock recovery measures • Fishing permits/licences

10. Control standards harmonisation Simplify the current rules Harmonise the rules Make control more cost effective To develop a culture of control and inspection. The fields where the Commission see that rules of control need to be harmonised are: • Recovery plans • Multi-annual management plans • Protected areas • Discards • Real-time closures

11. Recovery plans • Special fishing permit • Designated ports and times, including previous authorisation to land • Pre-notification of all catches on board before landing • Compulsory weighing of catches at landing and before transportation • Compulsory landing in auctions and/or authorised places • Compulsory labelling of each container of fish, clearly indicating FAO 3alfa code of the species, weight in kg, name of the vessel and date of landing • Definition of a specific margin of tolerance between estimations made by the master and quantities actually landed • Separate stowage of catches • Prohibition of transhipments at sea and/or in port • Prohibition to land in third countries • Definition of Specific control and inspection programme under the terms of Art 34c of Regulation (EEC) N° 2847/93, clearly defining common inspection objectives, inspection benchmarks and common rules of inspection and defining the terms for the organisation of the operational cooperation between Member States and to allow the CFCA to organise Joint Deployment Plans in accordance with Article 9 of Council regulation (EC) N) 768/2005

12. Multiannual management plans • Designated ports and times, including previous authorisation to land • Pre-notification of catches of all species from a certain threshold • Compulsory weighing of catches at landing and before transportation • Definition of a margin of tolerance between estimations made by the master and quantities actually landed • Separate stowage of catches • Prohibition of transhipments at sea and/or in port • Prohibition to land in third countries

13. Protected areas • Current rules need to be reinforced and modify by: • Defining which fishing vessels and which fishing gears and under which temporary restrictions they could operate • Defining a control buffer zone around the areas to be preserved • Instituting a system of alarm in the control buffer zone by modifying the existing rules of VMS transmission

14. Discards • Some measures are therefore proposed, including: • Special fishing permits • Use of electronic logbooks • Observer scheme • Authorisation to land

15. Real time closures • Definition of "trigger-levels" • Decision making process • Re-opening of a close area.