Article 47 – Conservatives Meet Boerg

Article 47 – Conservatives meet with Borg

Charlotte Jenner

Parliamentary Researcher to

Richard Benyon MP

Shadow Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Wildlife

Member of Parliament for

Newbury

Tel: 0207 219 8344

Shadow Fisheries Minister raises Article 47 with EU Commissioner.

Shadow Fisheries Minister, Richard Benyon, held a meeting with EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg. The meeting was hosted by Conservative Fisheries Spokesman in the European Parliament Straun Stevenson. Also at the meeting was Jimmy Buchan, the Skipper of Amity II which featured in the recent “Trawlermen” series on BBC1. Jimmy is the Conservative Candidate for Banff and Buchan.

Over one and a half hour meeting Richard raised the issue of the Article 47 and the desire by the Commission to include the recreational catch in national quota. Richard told the Commissioner that there was a sense of relief that the Commission was back tracking on the original proposal. However more needed to be done.

Richard said,

“I told the Commissioner that the 1.1m UK anglers are still fearful of this measure. There are coastal towns that need the income sea anglers bring, much of it in the off season. It is just not workable to imagine small boat owners having to register, pay a fee and declare the few fish taken for the pot. We need sea anglers for the income they bring to coastal Britain and for the knowledge they have of what species are in good supply and what are in short supply. I am delighted that the Commissioner agreed to my suggestion that he meet a delegation from the Angling Trust in the near future”

Richard also attended the EU Parliament’s Fisheries Committee and saw Struan Stevenson’s amendment pass which ensures a level of national discretion in the implementation of this measure. Richard also noted how useless UKIP have been on an issue they have made much on in the press. Not one amendment had been tabled by the UKIP representative to the Committee.