In particular the industry has welcomed the fact that the Fisheries Committee has widened the scope of application of the proposed trade sanction measures to include all fish and fish products and thereby considerably strengthened the effectiveness of the sanction measure.

Speaking on behalf of the NPWG Gerard van Balsfoort said that “this vote should give a strong signal to countries such as Iceland and the Faroe Islands that the EU will soon be able to retaliate against the irresponsible behaviour by these two countries in their mackerel fisheries by import restrictions that not only include mackerel related imports into the EU market place but all fish imports from these countries; including the extensive whitefish imports”.

After the plenary vote in the European Parliament on this resolution that is scheduled in June this year, it will be up to the Council to give their opinion on the proposed sanction measure.

The European pelagic industry has fully supported the position taken by the Parliament and thanked Pat the Cope Gallagher, MEP for leading on this very important issue.

"Fisheries Ministers across Europe must heed the outcome of this vote and the endorsement  that the pelagic industry has given to the result. There is a real sense of urgency in this matter. The EU pelagic industry urges the Council to debate the sanction issue during their deliberations this week in Luxembourg," said a statement from the industry.

Printer friendly version

Email this article to a friend

Bookmark this

---