10 Feb 09 - From a speech today by Jo Borg Member of the European Commission - Responsible for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs
Rapid - Press Releases - EUROPA
Before I come to the end of my intervention let me say a few words about our proposal to reform the way we control fisheries activities in the future.
The most famous words contained in our proposal must be the words "recreational fishing". In some Member States our proposals in this regard have been misinterpreted alarming citizens that the Commission wants to start controlling millions of hobby anglers and impose quota restrictions on them. This would obviously be a crazy thing to do, and it is therefore not at all our intention to implement such a ludicrous system. Let me make clear once and for all that the hobby angler who catches a few kilos of fish every time he goes out fishing and uses it for his private consumption, will not be covered by the control regulation, even if he catches fish like cod which is under a recovery plan.
clarification is being sought on the next bit
There are however facts and figures in abundance that show that certain forms of so called recreational fishing have a dangerously considerable impact on certain vulnerable fish stock. We cannot just keep restricting severely professional fishing on those stocks but give the recreational fishermen a free ride. They have to contribute as well to the conservation effort. It is with this balance in mind that the Commission will approach the issue in the context of negotiations.
We look forward to working with you on this question, on the whole control regulation and of course also on the reform of our policy. In any event, I know that we at the Commission can always rely on the Parliament to stimulate and support us in improving the lot of Europe's citizens.
Rapid - Press Releases - EUROPA
Before I come to the end of my intervention let me say a few words about our proposal to reform the way we control fisheries activities in the future.
The most famous words contained in our proposal must be the words "recreational fishing". In some Member States our proposals in this regard have been misinterpreted alarming citizens that the Commission wants to start controlling millions of hobby anglers and impose quota restrictions on them. This would obviously be a crazy thing to do, and it is therefore not at all our intention to implement such a ludicrous system. Let me make clear once and for all that the hobby angler who catches a few kilos of fish every time he goes out fishing and uses it for his private consumption, will not be covered by the control regulation, even if he catches fish like cod which is under a recovery plan.
clarification is being sought on the next bit
There are however facts and figures in abundance that show that certain forms of so called recreational fishing have a dangerously considerable impact on certain vulnerable fish stock. We cannot just keep restricting severely professional fishing on those stocks but give the recreational fishermen a free ride. They have to contribute as well to the conservation effort. It is with this balance in mind that the Commission will approach the issue in the context of negotiations.
We look forward to working with you on this question, on the whole control regulation and of course also on the reform of our policy. In any event, I know that we at the Commission can always rely on the Parliament to stimulate and support us in improving the lot of Europe's citizens.
I haven't seen the content of the questionnaire but as Sam has stated they want to discover what catches and species we, as anglers, make. Sam prints details of all that in the Chronicle, Charlton in the Journal, Matchman in Sea Angler, the local clubs have their comp results on their webpages. Then of course we have sites like this where we are happy to provide exactly that information. So by not filling in the questionaire what exactly are we going to achieve - the information is already in the public domain and will clearly show that we are catching virtually nowt.
