EP - Fishing boats for tsunami victims

At a meeting of Parliament's Fisheries Committee on Tuesday, Fisheries Commissioner Joe BORG described the Commission's plans for aiding the fishing industry in regions hit by the tsunami of 26 December. Experts will be sent out to assess the needs of fishermen but the Commission is also proposing to donate European fishing boats which would otherwise be scrapped as part of the policy of slimming down the European Community's fishing fleet.

A regulation must first be adopted to allow the EU to buy the boats from European fishermen and give them to fishermen in the countries hit by the disaster. Parliament is expected to nod the draft regulation through at its Strasbourg plenary session in February or March so that the legislative procedure can be wound up at a meeting of agriculture and fisheries ministers soon afterwards.

At Tuesday's meeting, Struan STEVENSON (EPP-ED, UK) and Carmen FRAGA ESTEVEZ (EPP-ED, ES) stressed that this aid must go primarily to small fishermen. But Carl SCHLYTER (Greens/EFA, SE) saw the needs of small fishermen from another angle. He believed they would be better off with financial aid rather than EU fishing boats, as "the local people chiefly use non-motorised vessels".

25.01.2005 Committee on Fisheries
In the chair: Philippe MORILLON (ALDE, FR)

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• Speech by Commissioner Borg: Moving from Words to Actions: Conference on Governance of High Seas and UN Fish Agreement (1/5/2005)
• GAERC - Council Conclusions on the earthquake and tsunamis in the Indian Ocean (31/1/2005)
• EP - Tsunami aid - pledged money must be spent (13/1/2005)
• EP - MEPs support aid to tsunami-hit countries (12/1/2005)
• EP - Aid to tsunami victims not to be at expense of others in need (11/1/2005)
• EP - MEPs approve € 100 million to aid tsunami victims (11/1/2005)
• EP - Tsunami - MEPs think ahead to need for reconstruction (5/1/2005)
• EP - Tsunami - EU aid to the victims of the catastrophe (5/1/2005)