Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-07-03-Speech-3-323"
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"en.20020703.11.3-323"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, let me begin by thanking you, Mrs McKenna, for your excellent report and Parliament for its sustained support for our efforts in the negotiations on the SEAFO Convention.
These efforts have paid off, for the Convention is about to be ratified by the Community. Since we joined the negotiations on the Convention in 1997, the Community has taken an active role in them and will now be one of the first parties to ratify the Convention. We will thus be making a key contribution to its speedy entry into force. The progress towards this Convention was an outstanding example of positive and pro-active multilateral cooperation in the field of international fishing. This Convention implements the latest developments in maritime law, and it is living proof of every participant's commitment to responsible fishing in a maritime region where stocks are extremely vulnerable.
In this context, I should like to emphasise three points. Firstly, the Convention establishes a good system of monitoring and control of fishing in this region. Secondly, it establishes a good balance in the allocation of fishing rights between coastal states and developing countries. Thirdly, the Convention has adopted the dispute settlement mechanism provided for by international maritime law. SEAFO thus has every chance of becoming an effective organisation for the responsible management of resources and resolutely combating illegal, unregistered and unregulated fishing, and it will be of benefit to a number of coastal states whose economies are heavily dependent on these resources.
Let me turn now to your amendment, Mrs McKenna, which the Commission can only support. It is a fact that the UN Agreement came into force without being ratified by the Community. The Council decision of 1998 provided for speedy ratification by the Community and the Member States simultaneously. However, three Member States have yet to complete their internal procedures to ratify the Agreement. This is impeding the Community's progress towards membership of the UN Agreement. I myself have actively intervened personally in the Council and with the Member States to speed up this process.
As for your further concerns, namely that we should take account of the vulnerability of fish stocks, especially deep-water species – as you have already mentioned – within SEAFO's sphere of application, and that the Community must lobby harder for the widespread use of the precautionary approach in SEAFO's management of these stocks – these I can only endorse. I can assure you, Mrs McKenna, that the Community will continue to take an active role in SEAFO's work. In our Commission communication on the reform of the common fisheries policy, we made it clear that we are very keen to promote cooperation between all coastal states in the interests of sustainable and responsible fishing outside territorial waters."@en1
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