MP is fishing for industry change

FILEY MP Anne Mcintosh is among several influential backbench MPS who have called for radical reform within the fishing industry.

In a report published yesterday, the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee examines the EU’S proposals for reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), which sparked a public outcry last year over the amounts of fish discarded.

“Centralised micro-management by Brussels has failed UK fishermen”, said Miss Mcintosh, who is the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee Chairman.

“Member states must have greater say over fisheries policy in their own waters”, adds Miss Mcintosh, “so we are calling on Government to press for a more ambitious reform that genuinely brings power back to Member States”.

The committee notes that the Commission has baulked at repatriation of fishing policy through a full-scale treaty change but highlights an alternative.

“We have trawled the legislation and found a ground-breaking way to bring back aspects of fisheries policy through amending the EU regulations without requiring a Treaty change. Now it’s up to UK Government to make bold moves to bring decision-making over fisheries policy closer to coastal communities and the people whose livelihoods depend on it,“says Miss Mcintosh.

“Countries across Europe recognise the failings of the CFP. Greater autonomy over fishing policy will be welcomed by many Member States and so we call on the Government to build alliances with like-minded countressary reforms” adds Mcintosh.

MPS also question whether the EU Commission’s proposal for a ban on the discarding of fish at sea will prove effective.

Commenting further, Miss Mcintosh says that “everyone is appalled by revelations about the levels of discarding. We heard first-hand from fishermen in Hastings how frustrating it is for them to have to throw back perfectly good cod into the sea”

“The Commission is right to want to tackle this, but we are concerned that a knee-jerk reaction to the public outcry will do more harm than good. The last thing that we want to see is unwanted fish in the sea becoming unwanted fish in landfill”.

Instead, the Committee argues for a more gradual approach built on a sound science base and the local experience of fishermen to find workable solutions to the discard problem that has blighted European fisheries.

Echoing its earlier report, the Committee also urges Defra not to abandon its commitment to domestic fisheries reform that delivers a fairer deal to small-scale fishermen.

The Committee proposes a novel mechanism to reallocate unused fishing rights from ‘slipper skippers’ to active fishermen.