OBJECTIVE 1
To analyse and thereafter inform fishermen, MP's and the British
People of the past and present facts relative to the CFP and the
potential implications for the Industry in the future as a result
of the strategy developed at the Fish Council Meeting in December
1992.
OBJECTIVE 2 To apply political pressure for change.
OBJECTIVE 3
To gain security for British fishermen by withdrawing from the
CFP and regaining control of the UK's exclusive fishing zone to
enable as appropriate reciprocal fisheries arrangements to be
negotiated where possible.
Success in the Campaign will
ensure that the UK no longer has to abide by the principle of
equal access to the common resource nor to the acceptance of majority
voting at Fish Council Meetings. Both of these make it virtually
impossible for any UK Government of any party to safeguard the
future of the British Fishing Industry. Eighty percent (80%) of
fish resources are found in what ought to be UK waters, but are
now European Union waters. The UK industry has only 38% allocation
of that resource (and 12% by value) which is being continuously
eroded by other Member States insisting on application of the
non discrimination principle enshrined in the Treaty of Rome (Article
7 and Article 40). Non discrimination means equal access to the
common resource. SBFC Website
HERE
WHY THE COMMON FISHERIES
POLICY HAS BEEN SUCH A DISASTER
The political will is towards
the creation of one unit, as part of the EU super State, and a
super fishing zone.Outside the 6 or 12 mile limits, the EU fishing
fleet from 2003, will be run by the Commission, through the Member
State, via a centralised EU permit system, as to when, where,
what, and how each vessel can fish. Within each Member States
6 or 12 mile limits the fleet will become a cottage industry for
that region of the EU provided this derogation is not removed
post 2002.
In the latter half of the
eighties, the British industry highlighted the horrendous problem
of discarding which could often exceed the amount landed.
Initially Ministers denied these figures, but today they are accepted,
and were confirmed by the EU Commission's 1992 Report.
Discarding takes two forms:
Prime fish of breeding
size
When these are caught as
part of a mixture of species, they will require to be dumped if
the vessel has insufficient quota for that species.
In the case of British vessels
this amounts yearly to approximately 45 million Coley (saithe),
which causes a stinking rotten mess on the sea-bed. If these fish
are not dumped, but landed, this is known as Black Fish, and is
illegal, with fines of up to £50,000.
It is the EU's intention
to clamp down on Black fish, so it is possible up to 30 million
prime Cod, along with an unknown quantity of other fish, all prime
breeding sizes, will now be dumped dead, causing further pollution.
Juveniles
The Ministry of Agriculture,
Fisheries and Food stated that: "The large majority of fish
discarded by fishermen are small and of low or no commercial value."
Yet at the Council of Ministers
meeting of 30th October 1997, Britain voted with all Member States,
except Denmark, to reduce the Minimum Size one is allowed to land
of three species:- Hake, Plaice, and Megrim, to well below breeding
size. The British Government gave the reason for this reduction
in size as: But this recognises the fact that it is wasteful
to require discarding of fish which are marketable and which in
practice are caught as part of a mixture of species.
In the "so-called" name of
conservation, the EU on the one hand has legalised the catching
and marketing of juvenile fish well below breeding size, which
on paper reduces the discard figure, but on the other hand and
at the same time has clamped down on "Black Fish" , which are
caught under the same rules and part of a mixture of species,
and yet these prime fish have to be dumped dead at sea.
What the European Union is
wilfully doing, in order to create this one unit, is to work directly
against the Pyramid of Life - against nature. Those that suffer
are not just British Fishermen, but also European Fishermen, Fishermen
elsewhere in the world, and the whole of the marine environment,
to the detriment of the human race.
SAVE BRITAIN'S FISH IS SPONSORED
AND SUPPORTED BY THE FISHERMEN'S ASSOCIATION LTD
