Rumblings regarding the impact on Scottish recreational sea anglers of EC proposed Fisheries Control Regulations continue.
Though the regulations were supposedly to be aimed at the commercial catching sector, British MEPs, the Scottish Sea Angling Conservation Network (SSACN) and other organisations believe they were badly thought out to the point where they were unworkable. In particular, it was felt that Article 47 within them could have resulted in every pleasure vessel which ever went fishing would have to be registered and report its catches.
This would have imposed a level of bureaucratic interference into sea angling that would have had a disastrous impact on the tourism sector and caused substantial job losses in the businesses serving the sea angling sector without providing any meaningful benefits to fish stocks.
The level of concern voiced was such that Joe Borg, the EU Fisheries Commissioner, issued a press statement claiming the proposed legislation had been misinterpreted, saying –
“‘Let me make clear once and for all that the hobby angler who catches a few kilos of fish every time he goes out fishing and uses it for his private consumption, will not be covered by the control regulation…,’ and that “The European Union would be “crazyâ€
TF_geepster.
