The Report by Donegal MEP Pat the Cope Gallagher on certain measures in relation to countries allowing non sustainable fishing was formally signed into EU law on the 25th of October last.
The signing ceremony took place in the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
The author of the report, Pat the Cope Gallagher MEP stated “I had the honour to witness the signature of my report by the President of the European Parliament and the President in Office of the Council when they formally entered into EU legislation the Regulation on certain measures in relation to countries allowing non sustainable fishing.”
“The Regulation now gives Commissioner Damanaki the necessary tool to introduce hard hitting sanctions against countries engaged in unsustainable fishing practices, such as Iceland and the Faroe Islands in the case of mackerel in the North East Atlantic.”
“The mackerel fishery in the North East Atlantic was expected to be worth in excess of 1 billion euro in 2010 before the outbreak of overfishing by Iceland and the Faroe Islands. In 2008 both Iceland and the Faroe Islands were fishing very modest amounts of mackerel. This is in sharp contrast to the landings in 2011, which reached up to 150,000 tonnes in each case.”
“The Commissioner must take urgent action and implement the provisions contained in the Regulation, bearing in mind that talks to resolve the dispute broke down again without an agreement in London last week.”
