Review of CFP must bring change - Allister
11 February 2009
With the EU Commission due to publish an important Green Paper in April, dealing with reform and the future of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), the Fisheries committee in Brussels has held its first debate with Commissioner Borg on its likely contents.
Taking part in the debate Jim Allister MEP launched a strong attack on the current CFP, which he described as an "abject failure". Illustrating its failure with reference to the Irish Sea, Jim Allister observed that the Northern Ireland whitefish fleet had crashed from 40 boats to 6, yet we are still told stocks are falling, despite all the stringent Quotas, effort management tools and Spring closures. This, declared Mr Allister, is the clearest evidence imaginable of a failed policy, where failure had come at the huge cost of robbing many fishermen of their livelihoods.
Focusing, in particular, on the unfairness of Quota policy, the TUV MEP called for their total removal as a management tool with more localised effort management as the key tool of the future. Giving local fishermen real responsibility will reap far better conservation rewards, he said.
Once more Mr Allister attacked the CFP policy on discards, whereby thousands of tons of fish are compulsorily thrown back into the sea. Describing it as "the most scandalous of all the lunacy which the CFP management system had promoted", he referred to the situation in Norway as far more sustainable, where discards are banned and all caught must be landed.
As 2009 proceeds there will be very serious negotiations on the future of the CFP and it is vital that Northern Ireland's interests are vigorously pursued. Mr Allister has already discussed these issues with the senior fisheries officer from DEFRA.
