Ref. Ares(2018)3458869 - 29/06/2018
Ref. Ares(2019)2387732 - 04/04/2019
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Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture
- Berlin Office - D-11055 Berlin
POSTAL ADDRESS Wilhelmstraße 54, D-10117 Berlin
Mr Joao Aguiar Machado
TEL +49 (0)30 18 529 - 3636
Director-General for
FAX +49 (0)30 18 529 - 3881
Maritime Affairs and Fisheries
E-MAIL
European Commission
INTERNET www.bmel.de
B – 1049 Brussels
MY REFERENCE
DATE 30 May 2018
by email only to:
xxxx.xxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx
Joint recommendation for demersal fisheries in the North Sea
Note on choke species
Dear Mr Aguiar Machado,
On behalf of the Scheveningen group, chaired in 2018 by Germany, I have the honour to
transmit to you the joint recommendation of the Scheveningen group for a discard plan for
demersal fisheries in the North Sea as from 1 January 2019. We remain available for any
inquiry you may have in this regard.
Furthermore, referring to the Commission’s note of 27 March 2018 – Ares(2018)1669795 – in
which an updated list of possible concrete choke cases for the North Sea predicted for 2019
were requested, including concrete proposals as to how such choke situations could be
avoided, I also transmit to you
a note of the Scheveningen HLG to the Commission on choke species in the North Sea
in the context of the full application of the landing obligation as from 1 January 2019,
prepared in response to your letter of 27 March 2018;
a paper on choke mitigation tools prepared end 2017 under the Dutch presidency of
the Scheveningen group;
a choke species analysis prepared under the German presidency (to be used in
conjunction with the explanatory note).
These documents bear witness to the intensive work of the Scheveningen group to address
choke species situations ahead of the full application of the landing obligation.
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The Scheveningen group remains committed to further work to address outstanding issues
related to the full implementation of the landing obligation which in our understanding is a
permanent challenge.
Yours sincerely,