Brussels, 05/06/2001 (Agence Europe) - At the end of the first morning of the public hearing on the future of the common fisheries policy (CFP), in Brussels on Tuesday, Commissioner Franz Fischler sought to reassure the professionals of the sector, declaring that the Green Paper on the subject (published in March: see EUROPE of 21 March) had not as goal to constitute a set of "miracle recipes" and that there was no question of "revolutionalizing" the current rules regarding total allowable catches (TACs). Fischler recalled that there was broad consensus on the need to establish multi-annual management plans for TACs, but that he had not placed back into question the principle of "relative stability" on the distribution of TACs. This principle is based on three criteria that the Council adopted in May 1980: the traditional fishing activities of vessels, the special needs of fishermen operating in regions of low possibilities of employment outside fishing, and the losses in fishing potentials in third country waters after the introduction of exclusive economic zones (EEZ).
Jose Roman Fuertes Gamundi, of the Association of Spanish ship owners of the Port of Vigo, criticised certain aspects of the Green Paper. Concerning access to Community waters, he opposed the maintenance, after 2002, of the current exemptions to the principle of equal access. "Our sector is of the opinion that these limits (Shetland Box, zone of 6 to 12 miles, access to the North Sea) may only have a temporary nature, as were they o remain permanent, the Treaties would have to be modified", he said. He also asked to be able to use. the system of individual and transferable fishing rights, a possibility that the Commission rejects. Dirk-Jan Langstraat of the Association of Dutch Fishermen, who speech was focused on the policy regarding the fleet, shared the Commission's point of view by which no subsidy must be granted to shipbuilding, "as that would not only lead to an increase in fishing capacities but impede the functioning of the internal market". Alain Parres of the Union of fishing vessel owners of France (UAPF) tried to demonstrate that the professionals, often accused of being predators and polluters, were in fact much more guardians of the environment and that they contributed to the reconstitution and maintenance of the balance of the ecosystems.