Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-06-12-Speech-3-306"
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"en.20020612.9.3-306"2
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". – Madam President, the background to this report is well known, but worth repeating as it is crucial. In November 2000, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) warned that cod stocks in the North Sea and west of Scotland waters and the northern hake stocks are at serious risk of collapse.
ICES estimates that cod stocks in the North Sea are at their lowest level since 1963 and that technical measures and TAC reductions alone will not be enough to restore them to within safe limits. Cod stocks in the Kattegat, Irish Sea and west of Scotland waters are in similar condition. For hake the decline in stocks has been less dramatic, but stocks are thought to be around only half of their 1980 levels.
At the December 2000 Fisheries Council meeting, it was agreed that more long-term conservation measures were necessary in addition to TAC reductions for 2001. The Commission was invited to submit proposals for a multi-annual recovery plan. During 2001, the Commission adopted various emergency regulations to restrict the fishing of these species and in June 2001, it issued a communication outlining its strategy for rebuilding cod and hake stocks in Community and adjacent waters.
The current proposed multi-annual recovery programme for cod and hake follows on from that communication. I welcome the overall approach, which includes targets for recovery of each of the stocks, total allowable catches allowing for an annual percentage increase of 30% for cod and 15% for hake, with an upper and lower limit to the permitted change in the TAC of 50% from one year to the next, a system of fishing effort limitation, enhanced controls in relation to satellite tracking for vessels over 50 metres in length, position reporting, landing conditions, retentions on board and conditions for weighing and transport. The potential use of temporary closed areas for up to 60 days.
I believe that successful recovery of stocks must be a priority. We must at all costs avoid a Canadian-style disappearance of cod and hake from these northern waters. In Canada, a cod moratorium was introduced in 1992. Some 30,000 people lost their jobs, the biggest lay-off in Canadian history. The cod disappeared due to a complex mix of factors, including over-fishing, and a decade later the stocks have not recovered.
We cannot ignore the ecological warning signs. At the committee vote, references to hake were removed from this report. I hope colleagues will support me as rapporteur in trying to reinstate hake in this report. Although there is disagreement over whether cod and hake should be treated together, the Commission's approach seems to me acceptable, provided that sufficient account is taken of the specific situation of the two species. The figures and the levels of hake stocks have been questioned and we should be guided by evidence. On the measure proposed for hake, new scientific evidence may allow a relaxation in the targets and the percentage stock increase expected.
We need a package of measures which first of all work and secondly minimise the pain to the sector. Finally, while the success of the recovery plans must be the priority, an annual review of their progress and socio-economic impact should be undertaken. However, if recovery is not achieved the outcome will be increased socio-economic hardship. In any event, without fish there cannot be fisheries.
I ask colleagues to vote for Amendments Nos 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15 and 16 and against Amendments Nos 1, 3, 5, 9 and 14."@en1
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