Sunday 18 January 2009

the E.U.fishing policy

Recently on the news we were told that the west coast of Scotland was in line to be closed for fishing for most if not all species. (this has now been amended FOR NOW anyway) The west coast has a plentiful stock of prawns which are being managed and looked after carefully by the responsible skippers and crew whose livelihoods depend on these stocks multiplying. The fleet has diminished drastically in all the ports around Scotland not just the west coast, giving the stocks of white fish, prawns and herrings etc. a chance to recuperate from the admitted over fishing that took place years ago. The Scottish fishermen are among the most ecological minded people in the world and also have one of the most efficient fleets in the world coming up with new ways to catch fish while making sure the stocks are still able to breed and multiply as they know their future depends on how they farm the seas.
Knowing all this I wondered why the Scottish fleet were being targeted again (I say again as they are targeted every year) when places like the Mediterranean sea have been emptyed of any reasonable shoals of fish years ago by over fishing by the thousands of boats that still fill the harbours around the coasts and islands there. The E.U. countries that want Scotlands fishermen to go to the wall have already allowed their own countries fish stocks to be decimated and did nothing about it then and are still allowing an unlimited amount of boats to fish and catch whatever they wish. Why are these countries being allowed to interfere in the Scottish fishing industry when they could not take care of their own stocks. They try to pass European laws that will allow their larger boats into our still fertile waters and some of their boats fish illegally anyway so do they think that by ruining the fishing industry in Scotland that their fleets will take over the fishing here and decimate it the way they decimated their own grounds by landing everything they catch no matter how small. Leave the Scottish fishermen to their own waters and confine foreign boats to their own shores and tell these guilty countries to look in before they look out.

2 comments:

  1. ALL DOWN TO GREED.
    WHAT YOU HAVE THEY WANT.
    NO MATTER WHAT THE COST
    TO THE ENVIRONMENT AND
    THE SKIPPERS TRYING TO
    MAKE A LIVING.
    GUILTY COUNTRIES KEEP LOOKING IN

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  2. Thank you for your agreeable comment lets hope the appropriate people read this and take note.

    ReplyDelete