mr president this question mentions a territorial dimension with reference to other policies including the cfp which is a complete eu disaster
fish stocks in the north sea part of the atlantic have been ruined by discards which must be abolished
they should never have been contemplated in the first place
uk fishermen have carefully looked after fish stocks in their own territorial waters while others have ruined theirs by overfishing
no wonder the cfp was welcomed by other member states whose fishermen could not wait to get into the north sea
one needs more territorial exclusion not less
in my own region the east midlands the fishermen of boston have fished the wash for generations looking after the fish stocks and making sure that their trawl nets do not disturb the sea bed for they know that this is where the immature shellfish develop and that this is where the creatures form the bottom of the food chain
this is their livelihood
now they are forbidden to fish on the pretext that their trawls damage the sea bottom
meanwhile a dutch vessel is licensed to hoover up a million tonnes of gravel from the same sea bed while e on is to dig a trench right through to the open sea to lay the line for a useless offshore wind farm
how much damage will all that do to the sea bed
how much longer will these fishermen be forced to stand by and watch their fishing grounds reduced to nothing while they are reduced to being benefit claimants
