Annex A
Letter to Sea Fisheries Conservation Division,
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, from the Chief
Executive, Association of Sea Fisheries Committees of England
and Wales (dated 15 July 2002)
CONSULTATION ON
REVIEW OF
THE COMMON
FISHERIES POLICY
I refer to Stephen Wentworth's letter dated
29 May last concerning the above. As I think I mentioned in a
subsequent telephone conversation, my Association did not meet
until last week and so our views on the questions raised in your
Consultation Document were not considered until then. I was instructed
to make some informal comments on the questions raised in your
paragraph three which follow:
A detailed consideration of the whole of the
documentation, including the Roadmap and the draft Regulations
will be undertaken in due course by the Association's Technical
Panel and comments will be made to you before the 30 August as
requested. However, be that as it may, I have encouraged my Member
Committees to respond to you direct asap with as much detail as
they feel necessary so as to assist the Department and to enable
their views to be taken into account in your preliminary discussions.
Dealing now with the aforementioned questions,
briefly our initial observations are as follows:
THE COMMISSION'S
PROPOSALS
(a) The new CFP B "Roadmap" and
Framework Regulation
The Association has no objection to the revised
set of objectives and accepts that the reforms attempt to coincide
with the Commission's stated aims. We may have further comments
to make in detail in due course but concern has been expressed
as to how "relative stability" will be continued. Furthermore,
so far as the most important provisions are concerned with regard
to inshore fisheries, clarification is required relating to the
power to regulate in the six and twelve mile zones and how consents
will work in practice.
(b) Structural Assistance and Aid for Scrapping
Fishing Vessels
No comment at this stage.
(c) Environmental Integration and IUU Fishing
Action Plans supported.
U.K. PRIORITIES
We do agree with the priorities and indicated
as such when we responded to the Green Paper B see my letter to
Gareth Baynham-Hughes dated 30 May, 2001 (no doubt your predecessor
in this matter as he shares the same stable—ie room 423b)
and the file should reveal all.
COMMISSION CONSULTATION
PROCESS
My Member Committees will be encouraged to take
part if they so desire in addition to responding to your Consultation
Document.
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