As the European Parliament voted on technical measures earlier this week, French fishing industry body CNPMEM claims that with all the attention was focused on pulse fishing, a chance to deal with properly crucial legislation on mesh sizes was missed.
According to CNPMEM President Gérard Romiti, this will affect fishermen along the whole of the French Channel and Atlantic coasts who will now have replace gear, with significant effects on small-scale operators.
‘I can not be satisfied with the fact that European Parliament has rejected the amendments on meshes. This rejection will have adverse effects on all sectors, including artisanal fisheries. This is why I am counting on the Rapporteur and the Presidency of the Council to move this issue forward in the trilogue negotiations for all the French fleets – and not just a few, because I am here to defend all French fishermen,’ he said, stating that with the debate polarised around the controversial subject of pulse gear, MEPs ignored the mesh size issue that concerns netters and trawlers across the whole French industry.
He said that in its quest to simplify, the European Commission had taken the opportunity to make changes to a very large number of fishing gear meshes size requirements.
Gérard Romiti commented that CNPMEM has been working for almost two years to restore the status quo and to make it possible for local problems to be solved at the regional level, in consultation with the various stakeholders, and not settled from Brussels by the European Commission.
He said that following the vote in the European Parliament, the next phase of legislation will focus on exchanges between the Parliament, the Council and the Commission, but given the differences in the positions of these institutions, he is concerned that these discussions will spread over time, and will not be conducive to promoting an effective and responsive European policy.
