Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-11-21-Speech-3-565-000"
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"I shall now make a few comments, firstly on the Baltic salmon proposal. I would also like to thank the rapporteur for his excellent work, which was recognised by all the speakers.
Let me make it clear: we need to respect these people and their sustainability issues. We have to fish only for the surplus; we have to pay adequate prices, but they also have to contribute to this change, otherwise we will not be able to fish outside European waters. It is as simple as that. We have to follow the same rules, I agree with you – all of you who intervened highlighted this.
I also understand that we need to move further beyond our agreements, in order to find a way to maintain a level playing field between our fishermen and the fishermen of other countries. This is the case, for instance, in the Mediterranean and in other areas where we have to work side-by-side with fishermen from other countries. We have to be sure that our fishermen who respect the rules have a level playing field with third-country vessels. This will not be easy, but we need to have a solid policy to ensure that sustainability issues concerning our waters are respected, in order to embark on international cooperation on combating illegal fisheries. This is what we are trying to do.
I would just like to remind you that we have some problems with our fisheries agreements. This is something which has already been mentioned, and it is not only an issue of policy. It is also an institutional problem, because cooperation between Parliament, the Council and the Commission is not at the level we would like it to be. We are facing additional problems with regard to the agreements owing to the reluctance of the Council to give Parliament a say on this.
We have to focus on these issues; we have to work together – I agree with you. I would like, Mr President, to thank all the Members; after all, we did have a positive discussion tonight.
Just two clarifications: regarding the problem of predators – yes, I recognise that there is a problem; and yes, we are trying to find concrete data and figures about the size and severity of the problem. But at the end of the day, Mr Gróbarczyk, I would like to remind you and all the Members that this is a national competence. This is not a competence of the Commission. This is a competence that comes from the Environment Directive, and so it is a competence of the Member States. We are now trying to find out the impact – the result – of the action of these predators, but this is all we can do. I would just like to clarify this situation.
As regards recreational fisheries – specifically salmon – a lot of the Members of this House have referred to this problem. Yes, there is a problem. We have some studies which have references saying that, for example, recreational fisheries in the Baltic take maybe 20 % of the whole salmon catch. Can you imagine 20 % only from recreation fisheries? But recreational fisheries are a competence of the Member States, so what we can do is to ensure that what recreational fisheries are doing is really recreational: catching fish for consumption and not for sale. However, the Member States have to cooperate on this, as we cannot touch these issues. I would like to give you this clarification.
Regarding the Technical Measures regulation, I would like just to mention that – as a lot of Members of this House have said – it would make the rapporteur’s life, the committee’s life and our lives much easier if we had the regionalisation provision implemented. A lot of details that are in this regulation could then be decided by the regional bodies, so this would be a great comfort to the rapporteur and to all of you. That is why I would like to urge you to support the Commission’s proposal for regionalisation. I am afraid that in the Council meetings I cannot see a lot of progress concerning this issue. I do not want to finalise the discussion now, but we have a lack of progress in the Council. So really I think that, with regard to the reform, Parliament can give us some strength to defend this regionalisation policy.
Concerning shark finning, I would like to reassure you that all the consultation procedures were followed with regard to our proposal. We did not come here without having a consultation process lasting many months. It is a process which is very well organised under very strict rules – the Commission rules. We also have an impact assessment. We try to prepare as well as possible, but, at the end of the day, we have to realise that the great majority of the Members who spoke on this issue understand the need to close all the loopholes we have in our legislation. I hope we will be able to put an end to this harmful practice. I think I have to repeat that a lot of other countries are doing the same, and they have fleets that are profitable, so please help us. Of course we need to work with our industry to find the best solutions for the implementation of this legislation.
With respect to small-scale fisheries, there were a lot of interventions here. This is reasonable, since it is a very important issue. I would like to welcome the comments about women in the fishery sector, and we can do a lot of things here with regard to the funding ideas we have. Concerning young people, I would like to inform you that, during the last Council meeting, I announced that we are going to amend the Commission’s proposal for the next financial perspective in order to give some incentives to young people to enter the sector. This can help create a more positive climate in our coastal areas, which must be our focus. I agree with you that this has to be our main target.
I would also like to mention here that we need support in order to go for measures that can help coastal communities in a more constructive way. Let me give you an example. I am very sorry that we have missed the opportunity to have a mandatory label with the date of catch on fish products, because this would help our local fisheries a lot, because the consumer would then be informed about fresh fish and could perhaps make a different choice. Nevertheless, we are going to continue, and there are other market measures which can help the local communities.
I can also say to you that I very much welcome all these ideas about more selective gears coming from small-scale fisheries. We are going to ring fence a great deal of money with regard to the next financial perspectives for innovation and more selective gears.
A final remark about the external dimension: I can understand that this is a very complicated issue. I have also underlined that this is an issue which comes with trade policy and foreign affairs policy. We also have to concentrate on our relationships with other countries – sometimes these are countries which are not very well developed. We therefore have to bear in mind that we cannot go there to fish in the way we used to some decades ago."@en1
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