Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-02-12-Speech-1-112"
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"en.20010212.7.1-112"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, first of all I would like to make it clear that in the course of this Strasbourg part-session, during which the Green Paper on the reform of fisheries policy will be on the table, we will have ample opportunity to discuss fisheries policy in general. For that reason, at this point I only wish to comment on the report actually before us now.
I think no one would deny that it is an incontrovertible fact that cod stocks are at an all-time low in the Irish Sea. Another incontrovertible fact is that if we wish to protect the stock of cod, there is only one thing to do: we must leave the stock alone during the spawning season. That is why it is very important to close the spawning grounds in good time before the start of the spawning season, even if that is very painful, and even if that inevitably creates problems for fishermen. And time is short, because the spawning season starts in the middle of this month.
I know that everyone involved up to now, and I would particularly like to thank the Committee on Fisheries and the rapporteur, has gone to great pains to ensure that we meet the deadline we have set ourselves. You will be voting on the report tomorrow, and that just leaves enough time for us to make a decision in Council so that the regulation can come into force on 15 February.
The Commission is totally in agreement with the report before us and I would like to thank you once again for your support.
I shall now turn to the amendment that has been tabled. Unfortunately, I have to reject this amendment. Why? Last year we carried out a number of trial catches with semi-pelagic trawls, precisely during the second half of the closure period. These trials clearly showed that the risk to cod is very high during this period and that there is a significant by-catch of cod. However, the Commission is willing to allow semi-pelagic trawls to be used during the first half of the closure period, subject to the conditions mentioned by Mr Nicholson, namely that there should be a specific observation system in accordance with Article 3 and that these activities will cease if the by-catch of cod becomes excessive.
We are also aware that the second condition I mentioned involves a certain risk, but because of the observation system, if there should be a further closure next year we will be in a position to say whether or not this exception can also be made during the first part of next year's closure period."@en1
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