Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-02-14-Speech-2-013-000"
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"en.20120214.3.2-013-000"2
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Mr President, Commissioner, in addition to the strategic importance of the fisheries sector for the public fish supply and for the food balance of the Member States, it also contributes significantly to the socio-economic welfare of coastal communities, local development, employment, and the maintenance and creation of economic activities and jobs both upstream and downstream of fishing itself.
The European Union common fisheries policy has thus far neglected the importance of the multi-functional nature of the sector and, with it, the so-called ‘production of public goods’. The deep economic and social crisis that affects the fisheries sector, – the result of a policy whose central tenet has in many cases consisted merely of the indiscriminate decommissioning of vessels – is jeopardising the release and full use of the sector’s huge potential in numerous areas, including the economic, social, historic-cultural, scientific, educational and environmental, among others.
The question, Commissioner, is whether the current reforms proposed for the CFP will contribute to changing this picture or whether, on the contrary, they will maintain it or even aggravate it. Unfortunately, the signs so far from the Commission are not only discouraging, but worrying. The defence of an increasingly market-oriented CFP and the progressive removal of public support structures – the overall philosophy that inspires the reforms – ignores the fact that the market does not recognise, or remunerate as it should, many of the so-called ‘positive externalities’ at a social and environmental level for which parts of the fleet that are less competitive from a strictly economic viewpoint are responsible.
In the general context of the fisheries sector, small-scale coastal fishing and artisanal fishing, segments that make up the bulk of the industry in many Member States, are known to be of particular importance for multi-functionality and the production of public goods. Yet the importance of this segment of the fleet is not sufficiently recognised by the Commission proposal. On the contrary, the Commission uses a definition of small-scale fishing that is reductive and disconnected from reality, at the same time that it proposes a modification of the CFP management system based on the creation, mandatory in all Member States, of a system of transferable individual concessions that is likely to seriously damage small-scale coastal fishing and artisanal fishing and, with them, the multi-functionality of the sector and the production of public goods.
If this system goes ahead, and we will do everything in our power to ensure that it does not, not one, I repeat, not one of the safeguard clauses already proposed by the Commission will prevent the inevitable concentration of the activity among operators with greater economic and financial might, firstly on a national scale, and then inevitably, sooner or later, on a European scale. It would be yet another significant factor in the decline of numerous fishing communities dependent on fishing.
These are trends that must be halted and reversed. There are other paths, alternative paths that will make it possible to reverse the decline of the sector and lead the way towards the full use of its tremendous potential. This path involves proposals such as linking the new European Maritime and Fisheries Fund to other instruments, particularly cohesion policy, to promote economic and social cohesion within those coastal communities most dependent on fishing; support for economic activities associated with fishing, both upstream and downstream of it; and the diversification and not the
of fishing activities, with the development of complementary activities. Projects with integrated solutions that benefit all coastal communities as widely as possible should be preferred over those that benefit only a limited number of operators. Access to these projects should be guaranteed to fishermen and families and not only to ship-owners.
Other proposals include measures to rejuvenate the sector and encourage more young people to take up the occupation, by providing support to meet their professional training and start-up needs, among other things; the promotion of land-based activities; the recognition and promotion of the role of women in fishing; and the creation of an EU programme to support small-scale fishing that, by using several tools, particularly at a financial level, will respond to the specific problems of this segment and support sustainable, local management of the fisheries involved.
These are just some of the many proposals in our resolution that we believe the current reform should take on board, for the sake of the recognition of the multi-functional nature of the fisheries sector and the production of public goods."@en1
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