UUP MEP comments on outcome of Fisheries Negotiations in Brussels
Commenting on the outcome of this weeks Fisheries Council meeting in Brussels where European fisheries Ministers gathered to set the total allowable catches and quotas for the industry in 2008, Ulster Unionist MEP Jim Nicholson, who is a member of the European Parliament ‘s fisheries committee, said,
“As I have said on a number of occasions before I have witnessed this damaging process take place now for a number of years and there is no doubt in my mind that the result for Northern Ireland’s fishing industry gets worse as each year passes.
“This deal is yet another body blow for the local fishing industry in Northern Ireland with significant reductions in the number of days fishermen can spend at sea. The conclusions will please no –one.
“What I want to see happen is a fundamental change to the way these negotiations take place. The annual spectacle of last minute negotiations must end.
“I have a number of criticisms of the Common Fisheries Policy but discards has to be the craziest of all. The European Commission must end the discards madness and allow fishermen to land everything they catch.
“We need action taken now to ensure the sustainability of the fishing industry in Northern Ireland or it could easily follow the textile and other well known local industries into obscurity.”