Tuesday, 10th February 2009
Recreational anglers off the hook
In a statement to the Fisheries Committee in the European Parliament in Brussels today (10th February 2009), Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg said that there was no intention to bring recreational fishermen under the provisions of the Common Fisheries Policy.
He ruled out any new controls on "recreational anglers who catch a few kilos of fish, even recovery stocks like cod, and take it home for their own use." Describing such speculation as "ludicrous" he said the European Commission will fine tune the offending article (Article 47) in the draft regulation, during the course of the next few days, to target sea anglers who catch and sell recovery stocks for profit.
Commenting on the Commissioner's statement, Scottish Tory MEP Struan Stevenson said: "This is great news and will come as a considerable relief to the estimated 3 million recreational anglers in the UK who had feared their sport was under threat from Brussels."
