mr president i want to congratulate all the rapporteurs on the presentation of their reports and due to the time constraints i want to confine my remarks to the grelier report
the existing regulation on technical measures is causing major problems for small inshore vessels operating off the coast of ireland and indeed off the west coast of scotland
we cannot afford as politicians to sit and wait for the reform of the common fisheries policy when a new regulation is expected
parliament has an opportunity to act now and i urge all political groups to support the very realistic amendments that have been tabled
these small vessels which i referred to short of fifteen metres are deprived of earning an income and even more importantly these vessels are forced to travel into dangerous waters
we are driving these vessels eighty kms off our coasts to catch fish outside the area which is closed for cod recovery
my amendments refer to the use of tangle nets
these nets are used by small inshore vessels to catch shellfish and lesser spotted dogfish off the north-west coast
tangle nets are not used to catch cod they are not used to catch whiting or haddock and will have zero impact on these stocks so these amendments if passed will allow these small vessels to survive in these areas
it is not good enough to suggest that we do not want to open discussions
that is what we are here to do
in relation to boarfish this is a new form of fishery
it has been developed primarily by fishermen from my own country
in december the council established a tac of which ireland was allocated sixty-seven and i am glad to hear the commissioner says that there is scientific evidence to justify this
there are no references to boarfish under the existing regulation so therefore i am pleased that the committee decided to accept my amendment to use the commission proposal as a vehicle to introduce the appropriate mesh size of thirty-two to fifty-four thus avoiding the need to introduce new legislation that would take too long
in conclusion i urge all members to think about
