The world is run by the people who turn up

Good to see that our North West MEP Chris Davies has taken the initiative to set up a cross-party group to support reform of the Common Fisheries Policy. 'Fish for the Future' will seek to put more fish in the seas and provide more jobs for fishermen. Chris says:

'Eighty-per-cent of fisheries are being fished unsustainably, and there are too many boats chasing too few fish.  Stocks are low, and we are importing more than 60% of the fish we eat - too often taking nutrition from people in developing nations along the coast of Africa.  Yet every day thousands of tonnes of fish are thrown back into the sea because they are not commercially valuable or because landing quotas have been exceeded.'

He continues:

'We expect the new policy to involve setting long term management plans based on scientific evidence, decentralising decision-making from Brussels to regional fisheries councils, curbing the discard of unwanted fish by moving from a quota-based approach to one based on controlling the numbers of days a fishing boat can be at sea, cutting subsidies for building new vessels, and creating a financial interest for fishermen to protect stock levels through new tradable rights to fish.'

Chris has no illusions, and knows how vested interests to keep the status quo will seek to dominate the debate in the many meetings to come. As he says - 'The world is run by the people who turn up!'