Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-04-05-Speech-4-236"
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"en.20010405.13.4-236"2
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"Mr President, can I also congratulate Mrs Miguélez Ramos on this own-initiative report. When you read the frightening statistics at the beginning of her report which indicate that some 24 000 fishermen die each year throughout the world, the huge risks involved in working in this industry become apparent.
This report calls for some radical proposals such as the call to introduce a gradual ban on vessels of 20 years of age or over, which my colleague Mr Hudghton has just mentioned, except where they have passed stringent annual safety checks. I support this proposition. Indeed such a policy might encourage participation in scrap-and-build programmes amongst those Member States which have traditionally refused to take advantage of cofinancing for such schemes, and the UK is a case in point. The UK fleet is now approaching an average age of 30 years and our fishermen are being forced to put to sea in vessels which are becoming increasingly risky and accident prone.
I would also like to raise a couple of additional external factors which are not covered by the report but which the Commission may wish to consider. Too often recently, we have seen lives lost when fishing vessels engaged in a trawl have snagged their gear on undersea cables and other foreign objects on the seabed. There must be much more stringent regulation concerning the laying of undersea power and telecommunication cables or any foreign objects on the seabed where the lives of our fishermen might be endangered. Also there have been many cases of fishing vessels being dragged under or rammed by submarines. Only recently we had the tragic accident involving a US submarine and a Japanese training vessel where seven students lost their lives. There have been similar cases in Scottish waters in recent years. There must be better coordination between fishermen and naval personnel to ensure that such accidents can be avoided.
Finally, many fishermen think that learning to swim is a bad omen. Can I suggest that as part of the rigorous training qualifications that are being called for by Mrs Miguélez Ramos in this report, swimming qualifications would be necessary and would save many fishermen's lives every year."@en1
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