It’s quite possible that Brussels will bring in EU powers which affect us all as recreational anglers ...

I’ve had emails from Angling Trust/NFSA asking us (all recreational anglers) to sign a petition as follows:

If you want to sign an online petition on the Government web site opposing the EU Article 47 proposals, follow the link below. A good opportunity to see how many anglers we can mobilise.
R Ferre/Mike Concannon.

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/rsa-eu-proposal/

More about Article 47 is here -

http://www.sacn.org.uk/Conservation-and-Political-News/Article_47.html

Just had this reply today .

Thanks for your communication about the proposed ‘Article 47’ threat to recreational fisheries.

This article is a small part of a very substantial document, drafted by the European Commission, which seeks to address a wide range of issues under the general heading of control and enforcement within the Common Fisheries Policy. The proposals arise from a series of analyses which have criticised the current control mechanisms (or lack of them) in some member states, as well as finding fault with the allegedly inconsistent approach to control and enforcement within the CFP.

I was curious about the reasons which would be given by the Commission for suddenly turning their attention to recreational fisheries.  At a recent meeting of the European Parliament’s Fisheries Committee, when we had our first discussion on the controls proposal, the representative of the Commission explained that Article 47 had been included following meetings with a European organisation which represents sports fishing interests, and with their approval.  On making further enquiries, I am told that the organisation referred to is part of the Confédération Internationale de la Pêche Sportive (http://www.fipsmer.org). You may wish to enquire/clarify whether that body claims to represent Scottish/UK interests.

In any event, whatever the reason/excuse given by the European Commission as authors of this proposal, my own view is very clear.  Over my 10 years experience as an SNP MEP I have become absolutely convinced that the Common Fisheries Policy itself has been a miserable failure, and that management power over all fisheries should be returned to the Governments of fishing nations, such as Scotland. I therefore do not support this EU proposal to extend the scope of the CFP into the area of recreational fisheries.

However it is relevant to note that the European Parliament is only consulted on fisheries policy, which means that all final decisions, including on this controls proposal, will be made by the Fisheries Ministers of the 27 member state in a Council of Ministers meeting.

For your information below is the full text of Article 47.

Article 47
Recreational fisheries

1.    Recreational fisheries on a vessel in Community waters on a stock subject to a multiannual plan shall be subject to an authorisation for that vessel issued by the flag Member State.

2.    Catches in recreational fisheries on stocks subject to a multiannual plan shall be registered by the flag Member State.

3.    Catches of species subject to a multiannual plan by recreational fisheries shall be counted against the relevant quotas of the flag Member State. The Member States concerned shall establish a share from such quotas to be used exclusively for the purpose of recreational fisheries.

4.    The marketing of catches from a recreational fishery shall be prohibited except for philanthropic purposes.

Thank you for bringing your views to my attention.

IAN HUDGHTON MEP
SNP GROUP LEADER - EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
PRESIDENT - SCOTTISH NATIONAL PARTY
8 Old Glamis Road, Dundee, DD3 8HP
84 North Street, Inverurie, AB51 4QX
825 Great Northern Road, Aberdeen, AB24 2BR
15A East Bridge Street,FalkirkFK1 1YB
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
http://www.hudghtonmep.com

Looks like it’s the CIPS main body which brought this up in the first place not the commercial sector.

A case of be careful what you wish for!

Hiya,

thebigman - 28 January 2009 05:34 PM

Looks like it’s the CIPS main body which brought this up in the first place not the commercial sector.

A case of be careful what you wish for!

Is that the case david ?

I’ve had a look at the site and there is nothing to say they were representing and UK organisation.

Well, when I was involved with CIPS the SFSA, NFSA and other UK bodies were affiliated to them through FIPS(M) who are the sea angling branch. Presume it’s the same now, but if not some one will correct me

Hiya david,

thebigman - 28 January 2009 08:36 PM

Well, when I was involved with CIPS the SFSA, NFSA and other UK bodies were affiliated to them through FIPS(M) who are the sea angling branch. Presume it’s the same now, but if not some one will correct me

from what I can gather from posts on other sites.. it looks like they took it upon themselves to do this and didn’t bother conferring with any of the affiliated bodies.

Sounds like Federations and Confederations every where

Sensible bit from BBC south west - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/politics_show/7816299.stm with Mike Concannon who does bits for us on the site.

Less sensible is todays Sun which has obviously been reading some of the rubbish on other forums and perpetuates the idea that the Reg will ban catch and release.

Hands of ouwer hobby thake same min size all over Europ for all species

that will do the job!!!!!!!  HANDS OF

cheers Miel

I can still throw a mean castnet ...

Always thought about one of those for sandeels in the harbour

Some comments from the EC London head of media - http://euonym.wordpress.com/2009/01/21/cod-only-knows/#comments

More from the above page -

antonia
February 9, 2009 at 2:04 pm

Steve, you asked me how you, as a shore-based angler would be affected. My answer was clear in the original post - inland and shore-based anglers will not be affected by these proposals. Our (as in the European Commission) proposal will include certain types of recreational fishing in the control rules of the EU fisheries policy in November 2008. How this will work in practice is the subject of legal texts currently being drafted, but we have said, at the highest level, that the new rules will only apply to those fishing from a boat at sea. Even then, not all sea-anglers will be affected, but those fishing those species that are subject to restrictions due to concerns about their stocks. The fisheries experts tell me “even amongst stocks covered by plans, we will decide on a case by case basis which stocks would be covered by the new rules. Only stocks which are in a critical situation and where recreational fishery really has a big impact would be covered. ” So if Scottish anglers fishing at sea from boats have little impact on the stocks of those species, then they will not be covered.

The experts are meeting and have met with representatives of angling associations such as the European Anglers Alliance and the European Federation of Sea Anglers, and certainly the latter has Scottish representation.

The issue of discards is one that concerns everyone involved in fisheries and the Commission is working on reducing the number of fish thrown away, see Commissioner Borg’s speech at the workshop done last year with the fishing industry: http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/meetings_events/events/archives/events_2008/270508/borg_en.pdf

10 Feb 09 - From a speech today by Jo Borg Member of the European Commission - Responsible for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs

http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=SPEECH/09/50&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

Before I come to the end of my intervention let me say a few words about our proposal to reform the way we control fisheries activities in the future.

The most famous words contained in our proposal must be the words “recreational fishing”. In some Member States our proposals in this regard have been misinterpreted alarming citizens that the Commission wants to start controlling millions of hobby anglers and impose quota restrictions on them. This would obviously be a crazy thing to do, and it is therefore not at all our intention to implement such a ludicrous system. Let me make clear once and for all that the hobby angler who catches a few kilos of fish every time he goes out fishing and uses it for his private consumption, will not be covered by the control regulation, even if he catches fish like cod which is under a recovery plan.

There are however facts and figures in abundance that show that certain forms of so called recreational fishing have a dangerously considerable impact on certain vulnerable fish stock. We cannot just keep restricting severely professional fishing on those stocks but give the recreational fishermen a free ride. They have to contribute as well to the conservation effort. It is with this balance in mind that the Commission will approach the issue in the context of negotiations.

We look forward to working with you on this question, on the whole control regulation and of course also on the reform of our policy. In any event, I know that we at the Commission can always rely on the Parliament to stimulate and support us in improving the lot of Europe’s citizens.

It looks like my stance on the interpretation of EU regulations might just be right.

Thanks Leon.

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