Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-02-14-Speech-3-419"
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"en.20070214.26.3-419"2
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"I would like to begin by thanking Mrs Aubert and all of the members of the Committee on Fisheries for their involvement in this truly exhaustive report on illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.
Almost five years after the adoption of the 2002 action plan, therefore, the Commission believes that the time has come to draw up a new strategy to tackle this kind of fishing. Within this context, the Commission has decided that this year illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing will be one of the main priorities of the common fisheries policy and of maritime policy. The Commission will draw up proposals in this regard and present them to the Member States and to this Parliament during the second half of this year.
The report that we are debating today is a particularly timely contribution to the work on which the Commission will base its proposals.
Ladies and gentlemen, over recent years illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing has been the subject of numerous debates and discussions and the time has now come for us to act at European level. The report by Mrs Aubert and the Committee on Fisheries represents an extremely significant and encouraging step in that direction.
This initiative from Parliament comes at a time when the Commission is committed to a public consultation on the review and strengthening of the current European Community policy on tackling this kind of fishing. I am particularly pleased to note Parliament’s commitment on an issue which is of crucial importance to achieving the sustainable management of fisheries resources inside and outside of Community waters.
First of all, I am pleased that the report stresses that the fight against illegal fishing must begin in our waters and also involve our vessels. Community waters are regulated, but that does not mean that illegal practices do not take place within them.
The report also acknowledges another extremely important aspect, namely how to prevent fisheries products from third countries that have been caught illegally from entering the Community. As the main market and importer of fisheries products from all parts of the world, the Community has a special responsibility in terms of guaranteeing that products that end up on the tables of European consumers do not originate from illegal activities. This means that a new approach must be taken with a view to properly controlling the legality of fisheries products imported into Community territory.
Another aspect that must be stressed is the need, indicated in the report, to create more synergies in order to improve the supervision, control and monitoring of fisheries activities. Illegal operators usually employ clandestine and international methods in order to disguise their activities. The success of investigation into these activities depends on cooperation amongst the different services involved in maritime monitoring at international level and also at Community level.
I cannot comment on all of the points of the report here, but I would like to stress, for example, the call for greater consistency in the sanctions imposed by the Member States for serious violations of fisheries laws, and the need to resolve the main problems caused by public fishing flags. These points demonstrate that Parliament and the Commission are on the same wavelength in terms of priorities for future actions.
The Commission has not been inactive over recent years. The European Community has made considerable progress since the adoption in 2002 of its action plan against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. This progress can essentially be seen in the Community’s activities, at international level, aimed at promoting measures to combat illegal fishing in all of the bodies competent in the field of fisheries and maritime law. Nevertheless, the most significant progress in the fight against illegal, undeclared and unregulated fishing has related to the regional fisheries organisations, the majority of which, thanks to the Community’s efforts, have now adopted a wide range of measures against illegal fishing.
The Community has also improved the policy of assistance for coastal developing countries, which are the main victims of the kind of fishing we are debating today. Strengthening those countries’ capacity to adequately control the fisheries activities in their waters has been funded from the European Union’s budget, thanks to an association agreement in the field of fisheries, both at national level and at regional level, on the model of the recently agreed regional plan for fisheries surveillance in the South-West Indian Ocean.
At Community level, the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy in 2002 also promoted the policy to combat illegal fishing through the adoption of provisions in the field of controlling compliance with Community rules and the creation of the Fisheries Control Agency. However, despite the significant progress made in the fight against illegal fishing, it has still not been eradicated by any means, and it is still one of the most serious global threats to the sustainable management of fisheries resources and marine biodiversity."@en1
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