Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-06-17-Speech-4-077"
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"en.20100617.5.4-077"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I have no doubt that the report we will be adopting shortly is a transposition of the new conservation measures adopted by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) last November in Recife.
Naturally, I am pleased with the content of this report, and I congratulate Mr Romeva i Rueda on the work he has done on this issue. As he has just told us, the new guidelines establish rules on the traceability of bluefin tuna that is caught, landed, transhipped, unloaded and exported within the EU.
The report also lays down rules on the verification and validation of catch documents and presents an extremely clear example of catch documentation. These rules are highly specific, very strict and do not allow room for debate. I believe this is a significant step forward. I think that, with these obligations, we should achieve the necessary transparency with the Commission as regards fish catches, which has not been the case recently.
Furthermore, it has already been said, but I shall repeat, that this is the first report that has gone to the Committee on Fisheries under the ordinary legislative procedure since the Treaty of Lisbon was ratified. This is obviously a symbolic moment for us members of the Committee on Fisheries, particularly if, as we all hope, the report is adopted at first reading – which I have no doubt will be the case.
This speech gives me the opportunity, Commissioner, to mention the recent events that have taken place in the Mediterranean. The abrupt, authoritarian shutdown of bluefin tuna fishing in that area of Europe was an arbitrary decision. The Commission eventually acknowledged that there were 171 tonnes of fish left for French ships to catch.
The fact that the Commission has decided to reallocate these uncaught fishing lots to small-scale and coastal fishermen is a gesture of appeasement but, in my view, it is by no means a satisfactory answer for tuna purse seiners which, may I remind everyone, employ significant numbers of fishermen, even if, thanks to that decision, it will theoretically be possible to recover the number of catches allowed as a result of the ICCAT agreements made in Recife.
I would also point out that, at the last meeting, ICCAT – the principles of which are reflected in Mr Romeva i Rueda’s report – took the important and bold decision to reduce catches of bluefin tuna in the Atlantic and Mediterranean by 40% in order to preserve stocks, which is obviously something we all want. It would be too simple to divide public opinion into ‘pro-stocks’ and ‘anti-stocks’.
An assessment by the Food and Agricultural Organisation now says that the species is not endangered. For my part, I am eagerly awaiting the results of the study to be published in October or November in order to have a clear picture of the stock situation and to form a precise opinion. Depending on the results of that study, ICCAT will have to propose measures for managing and preserving the species, and I insist that those measures be respected come what may."@en1
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