Dear President [dear Jacek], Ministers,

The misreporting of unregulated (non quota) species in significant quantities was a key reason for the decision to phase out the lenient tolerance margin in the Baltic Sea. This decision was made during the revision of the Control Regulation, less than two years ago. I have listened attentively to the issues raised by Latvia and other member states and would like to emphasize the following:

Since early 2024, my services have engaged in several discussions with Latvia to understand the challenges related to reporting catches of unregulated species and implementing the tolerance margin derogation.

Today I also had the opportunity to discuss this issue with the Latvian Minister.

I have heard calls to amend the Fisheries Control Regulation to find a solution for the tolerance margin for unregulated species and to propose secondary legislation ensuring that serious infringements do not apply in cases of misreporting unregulated species.

The Commission believes that a solution can be sought within the framework of the recently revised Fisheries Control Regulation, rather than amending it. We stand ready to support member states in this respect.

The listing of ports in Latvia, in particular, should be further explored, and I welcome the fruitful exchanges that have taken place at the services level to this end.

Moreover, it is crucial that national authorities support fishers in improving their catch estimates on board. This is an important adaptation process to the new rules on the tolerance margin in the Baltic.

Regarding the use of secondary legislation: the legal empowerment provided to the Commission by the co-legislators in the Regulation is clear. It does not permit modification of the Control Regulations rules on the tolerance margin derogation. Amending the rules on sanctioning infringements does not appear to be a practical solution to the issue raised by Latvia and Lithuania at this stage.

I have also heard calls for simplification.

Let me underline that the revised control regulation modernizes various provisions and incorporates essential digitalization in the fisheries control framework, which is a great source of simplification for both operators and national authorities. Additionally, the Commissions priority in preparing the implementing rules for the Regulation is to ensure they are developed with a strong focus on maximizing simplification and avoiding excessive regulation.

Let me conclude by emphasizing that the Commission remains open to further exploring potential solutions with Latvia. To do so, it is very important that our services analyze recent catch data to provide us with a clearer understanding of the issue and to explore possible solutions. This is what I have requested from the Latvian Minister today, and I hope we will receive this information to explore these potential solutions.

We stand ready to discuss with our Latvian counterparts on this basis.