Allister raises fishing fuel crisis with Commissioner Borg
05 May 2008
At a meeting of the fisheries committee in Brussels, Traditional unionist MEP, Jim Allister, following the failure of DARD to help, raised with Commissioner Borg the possibility of help from the EU in the form of fuel aid. Mr Allister suggested to the Commissioner that given the large underspend each year within his budget, he should set aside a traunche of that money to establish an Emergency Fuel Aid Fund.
Commissioner Borg confirmed significant underspend, especially in the budget allocated for control measures and for fishing partnerships with third countries, but he resisted anything amounting to operating aid, preferring restructuring packages for sectors under pressure and advocating promotion of acquaculture as an alternative to historic fishing practices.
Responding, Mr Allister expressed disappointment at his unwillingness to give direct help and noted as significant the Commissioner's preference for restructuring and acquaculture. "Restructuring", claimed the MEP, "is Euro-speak for further phasing out regular fishing. While acquaculture has its place - and should be substantially developed in Northern Ireland - a Brussels vision which sees our sea fishing sector diminish further is far from encouraging. Under the EFF (European Fisheries Fund) it would be possible to grant aid modernisation of engines to make them more efficient, but even on this the Commission seems reticent, less it increases fishing effort. Nonetheless, the opportunity exists for this under EFF and thus DARD should be spearheading an application of this nature for the NI fleet."
