Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-03-31-Speech-3-244"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20040331.9.3-244"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Madam President, I had better be careful what I say about Mrs Miguélez Ramos, in case she now becomes the Fisheries Minister in Madrid; so I will be nice to her from now on.
We in the Committee on Fisheries recently had presentations from an eminent scientist, Dr Chris Reid from the Sir Alistair Hardy Foundation at Plymouth University. He was explaining to the Committee on Fisheries that global warming, which has caused a rise in the temperature of the North Sea by a significant amount over the last 20 years, has driven the plankton on which the cod feed northwards. It is not surprising, then, that we are witnessing a collapse in cod stocks in the North Sea which has led to the crisis that the Scottish fleet in particular is now confronting, and to the cod recovery plan that the Commission has implemented.
Nevertheless, when you look at the table of proposed fishing opportunities under the modified Fourth Protocol for the Greenland Agreement, you see a reduction in fishing opportunities; a dramatic reduction in cod for a start, which perhaps gives some question to the science on which Dr Chris Reid was informing our committee. It at least indicates that in Greenland waters we do not have the vast abundance of fish that was once indicated.
The good thing about this modification to the Fourth Protocol is that at least now we have no paper fish: we are paying for genuine fishing opportunities. We are relating the money that we pay from the European Union to the actual reality of the fishing opportunities that are there. If such fishing opportunities exist, the people who most require to benefit from those opportunities are the beleaguered fleet operating at present in the North Sea.
For that reason regrettably I have to say, adding my voice and echoing what my colleagues have said this afternoon, that I agree that we cannot support Amendment No 5. Not only does that undermine the principle of relative stability, as Mrs Stihler and Mr Hudghton have eloquently explained, but it would also transfer those potential fishing opportunities away from the North Sea fleet and give them to fishing fleets outwith the North Sea, which would not be acceptable to the fishermen in the UK."@en1
|
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples