Implementing And Enforcing European Fisheries Law

Within the European Union, overfishing, overcapacity and non-compliance with the system of catch quotas are threatening the very existence of some fisheries resources. In dealing with these problems, the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) has developed into one of the most regulated areas of the European Union. Yet, in order to provide for the necessary implementation and enforcement frameworks, the European Union strongly relies on the Member States: a reliance on fifteen different legal systems with different regulatory capacities, different legal traditions and different enforcement systems of criminal law, administrative law, private law or disciplinary law. "Implementing and Enforcing European Fisheries Laws" focuses on the legal and practical problems of the implementation and enforcement of the EU's catch quotas in a shared legal order. It examines in detail how effective enforcement can be achieved in a process of European integration. A distinctive feature of this book is the attention given to the trend towards sectoralization whereby management and enforcement responsibilities are shared between the central government and organisations representing fishermen. To what extent does sectoralization affect traditional systems of public law enforcement? What does resort to the fishing sector itself mean for the degree of legal control Member States exercise over these systems? The book is divided into three sections: Part One examines the Community law context; Part Two investigates implementation and enforcement in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom and analyzes the effectiveness of the existing regulatory frameworks and the systems of criminal, administrative and disciplinary lawused to enforce the fisheries laws and regulations. Part Three compares the national systems in the light of European law requirements and the protection of individual rights. The book concludes with the future of fisheries enforcement and considers the potential changes in enforcement. The study is of importance for the future role of the CFP and its possible effects on national implementation and enforcement. More generally, the book reveals the shifting distribution of responsibilities between the Community and the national institutions and actors involved and shows many of the possibilities for and the limits of regulatory enforcement in a setting of European integration.

Within the European Union, overfishing, overcapacity and non-compliance with the system of catch quotas are threatening the very existence of some fisheries resources. In dealing with these problems, the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) has developed into one of the most regulated areas of the European Union. Yet, in order to provide for the necessary implementation and enforcement frameworks, the European Union strongly relies on the Member States: a reliance on fifteen different legal systems with different regulatory capacities, different legal traditions and different enforcement systems of criminal law, administrative law, private law or disciplinary law. Implementing and Enforcing European Fisheries Laws focuses on the legal and practical problems of the implementation and enforcement of the EU's catch quotas in a shared legal order. It examines in detail how effective enforcement can be achieved in a process of European integration. A distinctive feature of this book is the attention given to the trend towards sectoralization whereby management and enforcement responsibilities are shared between the central government and organisations representing fishermen. To what extent does sectoralization affect traditional systems of public law enforcement? What does resort to the fishing sector itself mean for the degree of legal control Member States exercise over these systems? The book is divided into three sections: Part One examines the Community law context; Part Two investigates implementation and enforcement in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom and analyzes the effectiveness of the existing regulatory frameworks and the systems of criminal, administrative and disciplinary law used to enforce the fisheries laws and regulations. Part Three compares the national systems in the light of European law requirements and the protection of individual rights. The book concludes with the future of fisheries enforcement and considers the potential changes in enforcement. The study is of importance for the future role of the CFP and its possible effects on national implementation and enforcement. More generally, the book reveals the shifting distribution of responsibilities between the Community and the national institutions and actors involved and shows many of the possibilities for and the limits of regulatory enforcement in a setting of European integration.

The EC's Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) was established to ensure that the exploitation of living aquatic resources in EC waters and by EC fisheries is carried out at sustainable levels. However, since its inception in 1970, the CFP has pursued conflicting objectives. On one hand, it has tried to manage fisheries by establishing and implementing a complex system of conservation, control, and enforcement measures. On the other hand, it has heavily subsidized its fisheries sector to secure food supplies, increase employment and the sector's competitiveness, as well as to further economic development in coastal regions. Given that many fish stocks exploited by EC fisheries are overfished and catches continue to decline, it could be argued that EC management and promotion measures have generally failed. Conservation measures - such as total allowable catches, effort restrictions, and technical measures - often encourage fishing at unsustainable levels. Control and enforcement measures have lacked effectiveness. On the other hand, in many cases, subsidies have increased fishing and processing capacities of the EC's fisheries industry. High capacity in the sector, however, demands high catch rates, thus putting pressure on marine capture resources. It has only been recently that the CFP has really begun to adjust its support practices to correspond to the situational and legal management requirements. Nevertheless, such subsidization continues even under the new European Fisheries Fund. This book: (a) explains and make accessible the CFP's complex management and promotional regimes, (b) identifies problems and failures in both systems, (c) assesses whether CFP measures are coherent as well as consistent with higher ranking law, and (d) finds out how consistency between promotion and management can be increased.

The main focus of this book is a review of how the Common Fisheries Policy is enforced throughout the Community, with a discussion of its successes and failures. Topics include the various rules and policies to be enforced; the enforcement authorities in the Member States and their activities and strategies; the role of the Commission and its approach to enforcement; new developments in fisheries control; the costs of enforcement; and problem fisheries and non compliance generally.

Examining fisheries, Brexit, the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) and its consequences for the Fishing Industry in the UK and the EU, this book explores key issues within the complex topic of fisheries after Brexit. Assessing the new fishing relationship between the UK and the EU, which will continue to develop over the next decade, it provides an important study of the state of fisheries post-Brexit. Taking a cross-cutting economic, legal and policy approach, the book outlines the social and economic impacts of Brexit on the UK and EU fishing industries. It critically analyses the provisions relevant to fisheries in the TCA, reflects on the bilateral fishing negotiations between the EU, UK and Norway, providing inferences as to what the "new and special relationship" might be in fisheries. It then focuses on the 2020 Fisheries Act and explores internal divergences in the nations of the UK because of devolution. Taking an international approach, the work offers an exploration of cooperation in fisheries enforcement, international and regional obligations in marine conservation, and the new horizons for the UK in international fisheries organizations and arrangements now it is no longer a member of the EU. It offers an overview of expert opinion on fisheries post-Brexit, highlighting lessons learned and future developments for fisheries in a post-Brexit world. Having finally signed the Trade and Cooperation Agreement on 31 December 2020 after tense negotiations, the United Kingdom and European Union have found themselves in a new fisheries relationship. This book maps the complex social, economic, legal and policy issues of fisheries in a post-Brexit world and will be of interest to stakeholders and scholars.

The state of the Northeast Atlantic fisheries in recent years has highlighted - plementation as the Achilles heel of modern fisheries management: discards and unreported or misreported landings are in many cases recognised to effectively subvert sound conservation goals. Social science literature on fisheries mana- ment has tended to regard the implementation of resource conservation policies mainly as a question of effective enforcement. This literature regards surveillance and penalty as the key mechanism through which fishermen keep to catch restr- tions and loyally report their catches. This book emerged because several years of research on fishermen’s compliance had made us uneasy about this rather narrow approach to the problem of implementation. This uneasiness motivated us to widen the approach to the question of implementing conservation policies in the fisheries. Taking Norway as an example, its fishing fleet consists of some 7,000 vessels spread along a coastline of more than 20,000 km, populated by less than 5 million people. The idea of ensuring desirable behaviour through surveillance and - forcement alone is almost absurd in such a context, as the task is impossible by any reasonable means. The Norwegian implementation system has thus had to rely heavily on the incentives provided by the rules and legitimacy created through a century of state/industry collaboration. Different coastal states face very different conditions in terms of solving typical implementation problems such as discards and misreporting.

The Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) is one of the longest established and more controversial of the common policies of the EC. It deals principally with the management of fishery resources, relations between the EC and third States in fisheries matters, the marketing of and trade in fishery products, financial assistance to the fisheries sector, and aquaculture. However, the CFP is not just a matter for those with an economic interest in fisheries. It also raises many issues of more general concern, such as the capacity of the EC and its Member States to manage important natural resources sustainably, the impact of fishing on the wider marine environment, and relations between developed and developing States. This book addresses the CFP from a legal perspective. It provides a detailed account of the very large body of EC law comprising the CFP, and draws on the European Commission's associated documents to aid interpretation and add context. As a result, the book will be of value to anyone wanting knowledge of the law of the CFP. Although not addressing the Commission's 2009 Green Paper on reform of the CFP, the book should provide a useful reference point against which to view the reform of parts of the CFP that is anticipated to take place over the next few years.

Ocean governance has its legal basis in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and in numerous international maritime conventions. These rules help to balance conflicting interests in the uses of the oceans and seas and the protection and preservation of the marine environment. Their efficiency depends, however, on their enforcement. In 2007 Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Peter Ehlers and Prof. Dr. Rainer Lagoni organized a seminar on 'Enforcement of International and EU Law in Maritime Affairs'. Participants were graduate scholars of the International Max Planck Research School for Maritime Affairs (IMPRS) at the University of Hamburg and graduate students. Their papers cover various aspects of enforcement relating to the new Wreck Removal Convention and to rules of the European Union, such as port State control, enforcement measures in fisheries, the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), protection of maritime boundaries and inquiries into maritime casualties. The volume also includes an analysis of the maritime policy of the EU as a new integrated approach to maritime activities.