Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-12-13-Speech-4-096"
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"en.20011213.6.4-096"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I believe we should firstly acknowledge how appropriate it was for the Committee on Fisheries to produce an own-initiative report on this subject. I believe that the European Parliament is thereby heading in the right direction in terms of unravelling an issue which is complicated but crucial to the future of fishing in the world and to fisheries resources.
Secondly, I believe it was also appropriate that it should be produced by Mrs McKenna, with whom I disagree on so many fisheries issues, but not on this report, which has been unanimously approved by our committee, despite the difficulty of this issue, and furthermore with no amendments from the House. I therefore congratulate the Committee on Fisheries and our rapporteur.
There is still no doubt much to do, but, in this report, the European Parliament supports the condemnation and prosecution of flags of convenience in fishing and in marketing. Certain Member States of the Union – such as my own, Spain, as the rapporteur has mentioned here and in the report – are promoting innovative legislative proposals in this field, which is no easy task, as has been said before.
We in the Committee on Fisheries are going to closely monitor the objectives and proposals in this report, aimed at dealing with the serious problem of illegal fishing. By fighting it, and eventually eradicating it, we will have taken an enormous step towards sustainable worldwide fishing. Some regional fisheries organisations, such as the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), say that 50% of catches of species such as the swordfish originate from illegal fishing under flags of convenience. If this percentage of illegal fishing were to be controlled, it would lead to an unquestionable improvement in the fish stock and would therefore clearly benefit legal fishermen, who have so much need for these catches and who behave in a totally controlled, and therefore responsible, manner.
The marketing of these fish and landings in European Union ports – as has been said here – are key issues in this process, as is the definition of flags of convenience and clearly identifying the countries which permit them and tolerate them.
All of these issues are in the report. I would once again like to congratulate our rapporteur, Mrs McKenna, and simply point out that I believe the European Parliament has today taken a very important step towards responsible fishing in the world. Having congratulated everybody, it only remains for me to ask the Commissioner – whose presence I appreciate – for the Commission’s support for the proposals in this report, because it is a very positive step, and that he take account, of course, of the fact that it has the unanimous approval of the Committee on Fisheries, and I hope that the vote for Mrs McKenna’s report will also be unanimous this afternoon."@en1
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