July 16th, 2015

Commissioner Vella committed to supporting EU fishing sector.

Karmenu Vella, Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, was guest of honour at this week's Europêche General Assembly meeting which was chaired by the Europêche President, Javier Garat. For up to two hours, the Commissioner listened to the European concerns regarding current developments on fisheries policies, in the framework of the new Common Fisheries Policy.

Among the many topics discussed, Europêche members talked of the importance of having adequate exemptions to make the discard ban workable, challenges with TACs and quotas, management plans, the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), international governance, the Mediterranean, Autonomous Tariff Quotas (ATQs) and sustainable fisheries partnership agreements.