Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-07-05-Speech-4-203"
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"en.20010705.11.4-203"2
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"Mr President, the structure of the fishing fleet is determined by the socio-economic circumstances of a region, by the Total Allowed Catch
(TAC) and the quota in combination with technical measures. The multiannual guidance programme (MGP) has generally acted too much as an end in itself and too little as a means to an end in all this. The end is to maintain fish stocks in a sustainable way. If a Member State’s fleet keeps to its quota, it has met the principal objective. Threatening to reduce the quota if the MGP targets are not met ignores that objective. One then finds the odd situation that fleets that meet the MGP target but structurally overfish go unpunished, while fishing fleets that do not overfish are penalised because their engine capacity is too great. On the latter point it was a considerable step forward that in 1999 account was taken for the first time of countries that regulate their fleet capacity through a days-at-sea scheme, in other words capacity limited by activity. Unfortunately an end has not yet been put to the confusing number of units to denote fleet capacity such as gross registered ton, gross ton and kilowatt propulsion capacity. It is an illustration of the lack of vision of fleet structure and the inflexibility of the Commission’s fisheries policy that as yet no proper unit has been found for fleet activity. With the increasing catching efficiency, the need for an indisputable indicator of the catch per unit of effort is great. On the other hand, great engine capacity need not indicate a greater fishing effort if we consider that the freezing capacity also requires extra engine quality as on some ships.
Sustainable fishing can only be achieved if there is room for an efficient fleet within the permitted catches. Grants for newly-built ships disrupt the operation of market forces and encourage an expansion of capacity. I therefore call on the Commission to end these grants, and I know that I have the support of Dutch fishermen in this.
The Commission needs support among the fishermen, if it is to have a chance of succeeding. The MGP must not be seen as a separate instrument with independent objectives from the other policy measures such as the TACs and the quota. By giving fishermen in their product organisations scope to shape policy for themselves within a single framework, such support can be created. These producers’ organisations can then be tackled on the division of the quota, transparency of catches and the registration of ships."@en1
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