By Martin Banks - 14th July 2011
Damanaki can expect strong opposition to her proposals but we want her to hold firm
Chris Davies
MEPs have gathered to show support for EU plans to reform the common fisheries policy.
ALDE MEP Chris Davies, secretary of parliament's cross-party 'Fish for the Future' group, organised the gathering on Wednesday as the commission unveiled its much-awaited proposals to reform the EU's fishing industry.
The proposal, which would take effect from 2013, will give vessels quota shares guaranteed for periods of at least 15 years.
The common fisheries policy (CFP), which has been in effect for 28 years, is intended to keep catches sustainable.
Environmentalists have criticised the plan, saying it would lead to a "virtual privatisation of the oceans".
But Davies said the demo, which took place outside the main entrance to the Berlaymont, was intended to show that the commission "is far from isolated in making its reform proposals".
Speaking on Wednesday, fisheries and EU maritime affairs commissioner Maria Damanaki said that the EU had to admit that the policy so far had been a failure.
"There is overfishing; we have 75 per cent overfishing of our stocks and comparing ourselves to other countries we cannot be happy," she said.
"So we have to change. Let me put it straight - we cannot afford business as usual any more because the stocks are really collapsing."
More than one third (268) of MEPs have signed a public declaration in support of the introduction of sustainable fisheries policies and an end to overfishing.
Davies commented: "Damanaki can expect strong opposition to her proposals but we want her to hold firm.
"Our seas are capable of supporting many times more fish than now exist. It is not too late for the situation to be reversed, but we have now reached a crisis point."
