News / New fisheries fund
THE NEWLY proposed European Maritime & Fisheries Fund should not be used to modernise vessels, according to Scottish MEP Struan Stevenson.
The new fund could be worth £5 billion for the whole of Europe until 2020 and should be targeted at ending discards, scientific research, protecting biodiversity, storage aid and supporting aquaculture, said the senior vice president of the EU fisheries committee.
In a speech to the committee this week, Mr Stevenson said three quarters of EU stocks are overfished, 30 per cent of the sector is loss making and 10 of fishermen have a negative cash flow.
“I am totally opposed to any moves towards using public funds for modernising the EU fleet and propping up these unprofitable sectors with subsidy.
“Some MEPs are also arguing that taxpayers’ money should be used to modernise engines to make them more fuel-efficient and to reduce carbon emissions. I am against this too.
“We have excess capacity in the EU fleet right now and if a fishing vessel cannot operate profitably it should leave the business. Subsidising modernisation of fishing vessels and engine upgrading will not cut overcapacity, but simply encourage over-exploitation of fish stocks.
“A smaller EU fleet and healthy fish stocks will improve profitability for everyone.
“Public funds from the EMFF should be used to compensate fishermen and processors who lose their jobs through downsizing of the fleet. The only area I can see being eligible for public funding would be improvements for crew safety or for on-board hygiene for fish processing.”
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