Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-10-25-Speech-4-169"
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"en.20011025.5.4-169"2
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"Mr President, first of all, I commend my colleague, Mrs Attwooll for the work she has done in this report. Although we are only dealing with an extension of MAGP IV for one year, the Commission proposals seek to reduce over-fishing and achieve the 40% reduction in effort across the EU fleet which they have been consistently pointing out is absolutely essential, if we are to have any hope of a sustainable industry in the future.
I know that some controversy has arisen – and Mrs Attwooll mentioned this – over the question of aid for measures to improve safety in navigation; working conditions; and hygiene on board fishing vessels. It goes without saying that all of us wish to see our fishermen working in the safest, cleanest and most secure conditions. But there is no doubt that such aid has been abused in the past to increase fishing effort, leading to further over-exploitation of dwindling fish stocks.
It seems to me pointless that we try to achieve a reduction in over-fishing as a core policy objective on the one hand, while continuing to facilitate cheating at the taxpayer's expense on the other. The whole point of the MAGP is to reduce fishing effort and bring it into better balance with the existing fish stocks. Only this week the need for continued for vigilance in this area was again highlighted with the publication of the ICES report on the prospects for catches in 2002. They point out that a number of fish stocks remain in a state of great jeopardy, particularly cod, although they also point out that there have been slight improvements in haddock and whiting stocks in the North Sea.
In that respect I was horrified to read that Danish fisheries inspectors last month boarded a Danish industrial fishing boat and discovered 114 tonnes of juvenile cod in a 543 tonne total catch that was supposed to be composed entirely of sand eels. Pulverising valuable young haddock into fishmeal to feed to salmon in the fish farming sector is complete madness. It is a crime against everything we are trying to achieve.
I hope that when we come to vote on this report later today, we bear in mind that the whole point of MAGP philosophy is to reduce over-exploitation and nothing we do in applying public aid to the EU fleet should undermine that principle."@en1
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