In a meeting in Brussels on the future of the Common Fisheries Policy Bertie Armstrong, chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation expressed that a regional approach to management is vital if the goals of effective and sustainable management combined with fleet profitability are achieved. He advised the delegates the current centralized fisheries management regime failed there is a way of regionalization.
He was addressing the delegates at the seminar entitled ‘The Future of the Common Fisheries Policy: A Regional Approach to Fisheries Management in the EU’. He said that everyone including the European Commission agrees that the current centralised fisheries management regime does not work and there is a clear path towards regionalisation which is yet to be identified.
According to him this change needs to be a leap of faith on the part of the Commission in relinquishing enough of the control elements to allow regional management to work. He said that if there is no clear policy objectives, accompanied by an equally clear definition of exactly what is to be delegated, we will remain where we are with the fishing industry unable to steer itself towards full sustainability and economic success.
