The imminent threat to the Newlyn fishing community of big new fines imposed by Brussels has prompted the independent MEP Ashley Mote to put a blunt written question to the President of the European Commission, Jose Barroso. He asked:
Fishing Industry in Cornwall Struck Down
Is it not correct that the British fishing industry has been virtually destroyed over the last 35 years and tens of thousands of people have been put out of work, directly as a result of EU interference?
The fisheries commissioner is still dithering about banning the discarding of fish caught accidentally over quota, the environment commissioner is still dithering about stopping the practice because it destroys the seabed, and the price of fish puts it out of reach of thousands of poorer families. What sort of EU government is that?
Even worse, right now the remaining small group of fishermen in Newlyn, Cornwall (once one of the biggest and most thriving of all UK fishing ports), are to fined nearly 200,000 euros for landing catches of hake over quote several years ago, which will probably destroy the fishing industry there altogether.
How does the Commission justify such action when the fault was theirs in the first place? Was it not the inexcusable fault of the Commission that it failed to increase the quota for hake when it was already well known that there was - and still is - an abundance of the species in the western approaches?
What does the Commission suggest is said to the community in Newlyn, to the families left without work, without a source of income and with an unpayable debt?
In the name of sanity, and particularly at this dire economic time, when is the Commission going to join the real world?
Fishing Industry in Cornwall Struck Down
Is it not correct that the British fishing industry has been virtually destroyed over the last 35 years and tens of thousands of people have been put out of work, directly as a result of EU interference?
The fisheries commissioner is still dithering about banning the discarding of fish caught accidentally over quota, the environment commissioner is still dithering about stopping the practice because it destroys the seabed, and the price of fish puts it out of reach of thousands of poorer families. What sort of EU government is that?
Even worse, right now the remaining small group of fishermen in Newlyn, Cornwall (once one of the biggest and most thriving of all UK fishing ports), are to fined nearly 200,000 euros for landing catches of hake over quote several years ago, which will probably destroy the fishing industry there altogether.
How does the Commission justify such action when the fault was theirs in the first place? Was it not the inexcusable fault of the Commission that it failed to increase the quota for hake when it was already well known that there was - and still is - an abundance of the species in the western approaches?
What does the Commission suggest is said to the community in Newlyn, to the families left without work, without a source of income and with an unpayable debt?
In the name of sanity, and particularly at this dire economic time, when is the Commission going to join the real world?
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