Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-01-17-Speech-4-016"
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"en.20020117.2.4-016"2
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".
Mr President, I have changed my usual seat in the Chamber.
Today, I am speaking on behalf of the Committee on Development and Cooperation. The Committee on Development has made a number of fundamental comments on the fisheries policy in relation to the development policy.
First of all, the Committee notes that the European Union is one of the world’s most important fishing entities and we must be aware of this. Furthermore, the EU’s market is so vast that over half the fish consumed is either caught by the EU’s fleet outside Community waters or else imported, much of it from developing countries. One can therefore understand that the common fisheries policy can have quite a considerable impact on developing countries.
The Committee on Development believes that the European Union must ensure its common fisheries policy is consistent with its policy on development and cooperation. This is obviously essential because it cannot simply shift the problems of the European fisheries sector to other areas. And, as we know, these problems are numerous; for example, we have excess fleet capacity, overexploited resources, declining employment and a largely degraded marine environment. Therefore, to shift these problems to other areas of the world is not acceptable and is not an intelligent, long-term policy.
We also believe that the fisheries agreements, which are one of the crucial elements of the common fisheries policy, must not only be based on this first principle, but also upon reliable scientific assessments of the status of fish stocks and on the impact of fishing on target species, in particular. As the main rapporteur said, scientific assessments are clearly necessary. If we do not have them, which is, unfortunately, often the case in developing countries, we should adopt the precautionary principle so as to avoid the over-exploitation of resources.
The final point that I would like to make is that we must ensure adequate protection for coastal fishing communities in third countries and thus guarantee their food safety."@en1
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