European fisheries sector crisis due to rise in oil prices – debate at the European Parliament plenary session

Commissioner Damanaki answered to questions raised by Members of the European Parliament regarding the fisheries sector crisis due to rise in oil prices, reports www.megafishnet.com with reference to EC.

During her intervention, she stated: "I share the concerns about the poor income of our fishermen, especially of the owners of small vessels in coastal regions. But we had this problem even before the raise of oil prices. Of course, this has worsened the situation, but the main reason remains that overfishing jeopardizes the health of our stocks. This is the main issue that we have to solve through our reform of the Common Fisheries Policy".

She added: "The only way to tackle the problem of fuel prices permanently is to improve the resilience of the sector, for instance using those European Fisheries Fund measures that help to restructure the fishing fleet, as it happened in Belgium. In order to address this situation the Commission encourages the Member States to use fully the possibilities offered by the European Fisheries Fund. Until now the Member States used less than 20% of the overall allocation."