Europe rejects Spain's appeal against Balearic red prawn fishing limits

The Tribunal de Justicia de la Unión Europea (TJUE) has rejected the resource presented by Spain against the limits of fishing hake, red mullet and red prawn in the areas of Alborán, Balearic Islands, North of Spain and the Gulf of León.

Spain sought the annulment of the Council regulation establishing the fishing opportunities applicable to certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks in the Mediterranean and Black Seas, arguing that the measures were "disproportionate" and "manifestly inappropriate" to achieve the objective of the regulation as they did not respect the requirement for scientific advice and were not necessary as alternative measures such as closed seasons, minimum sizes and increased selectivity of towed gears were available.

In its judgment, the CJEU dismissed this appeal and considers that the Council set out in a legally sufficient manner the reasons for which it established the maximum allowable fishing effort for European hake and red mullet longliners and the maximum catch limits for Mediterranean red prawn in the sub-areas of the Alboran Sea, the Balearic Islands, northern Spain and the Gulf of León.

The ruling states that the Council enjoys a discretion in this respect and that it did not manifestly exceed its limits in adopting these measures and does not consider them to be manifestly inappropriate in relation to the objective pursued, so that they do not violate the principle of proportionality, as Spain maintained.

The European Court has pointed out that the regulation does not exclude any particular type of conservation measure, but seems to leave to the Council the choice, if necessary, of the most appropriate complementary measures to the fishing effort regime in order to achieve the objective relating to fishing mortality in relation to maximum sustainable yield by the 1st of January 2025 at the latest.

Moreover, it is clear from the scientific advice on which the Council relied that the setting of total allowable catches (TACs) or catch limits was a measure that could be adopted as a complement to the fishing effort regime, on the basis of the multiannual plan regulation.

Spain also argued, inter alia, that this second measure overlapped with the already existing measure concerning the fishing effort management regime for trawlers, that setting a maximum catch limit for that species in those areas was redundant and that there are other measures with the same objective, such as closed fishing areas.

The Spanish resource added that setting catch ceilings is "the most damaging" of the conservation measures for the economic behavior of the fishing fleet and that it requires a more in-depth scientific analysis than the one that was carried out, and therefore proposed alternative management measures, in its opinion less damaging.

However, the CJEU considers that the Council was correct in weighing the effectiveness of the measures against their economic impact on fishing activities, and in considering that they were the most appropriate measures to achieve, as a complement to the fishing effort regime, the mortality target, set at a level corresponding to the maximum sustainable yield on the 1st of January 2025.