Maria Damanaki has requested to bring this topic to the political level in order to take stock with EU ministers of the consequences and to discuss the support measures which the European fisheries sector urgently needs in the light of the Russian measures.
Following Russia’s announcement to ban imports of certain fisheries products from the European Union this summer, the European Commission has been working closely with Member States authorities to assess the impact of the embargo.
Commissioner Damanaki has recently urged those EU governments whose fisheries sectors have been most affected by the ban to make use of the available funding from the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) so that fisheries products can be stored until alternative markets are found.
She also outlined the possibility of shifting more than the regular 10 per cent of unused fishing quotas to the coming year, if scientific advice confirms that such a proposal would not undermine long term sustainability. Commissioner Damanaki intends to discuss these and other possible measures at the AGRIFISH Council on 13 October in Luxemburg.
In 2013, the total export value of the banned EU fisheries products was close to EUR 144 million, which represents two per cent of total value of the EU's fish and aquaculture annual product.
