author. – Mr President, last December, as the Commissioner has just outlined, following a five-day meeting of the Council of Ministers, a new transitional cod recovery plan was agreed which has had a devastating impact on much of the EU whitefish sector. Under these new regulations, which came into effect on 1 February this year, savage quota cuts have been linked to draconian limits on fishing effort. Whitefish vessels can now only fish for 15 days a month, including steaming time to the fishing grounds, and the 15 days will be reduced to 12 days unless a further 20% of the fleet is decommissioned. We are literally asking our fishermen to burn their boats. Scotland, where there are only 162 dedicated boats left in what used to be Europe’s biggest whitefish fleet, will bear the brunt of these cuts. If we scrap another 20%, the fleet will fall below the critical mass needed to sustain jobs in our harbours, ports and processing factories. The industry will go into free fall. In addition, the majority of the remaining vessels will be ones that, because they are under 10 years old, are not eligible for decommissioning subsidy. These are the vessels on which the future of our whitefish fleet relies. These are the vessels on which we rely to catch cod, haddock, plaice and other whitefish once the stocks have recovered and the total allowable catch limits have been increased. Sadly, however, these are also the vessels with the biggest outstanding debts to the banks. It would not surprise me if many of them were forced into bankruptcy. The skippers and crews, who have often mortgaged their homes to raise the cash to build these boats, will lose not only their jobs and boats but also their homes. But Scotland is not the only country affected by these draconian measures. Ireland, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands and France have all suffered cuts. This is why the Committee on Fisheries voted unanimously - at least with only one abstention - to support this emergency resolution, the crux of which calls upon the Commission to adopt less drastic measures for the long-term recovery of cod which would secure the maximum number of jobs in the EU whitefish sector. The resolution also calls for the allocation of an additional EUR 150 million to compensate fishers, processors and ancillary workers affected by these conservation measures. I would suggest that EUR 48 million should be used for transitional funding to compensate fishermen and ancillary workers affected by the 15-days-at-sea fishing limits. I would hope that this aid could be found from the flexibility instrument. The balance of EUR 102 million should be reprogrammed out of the FIFG for the 2004 budget and should be targeted towards golden handshakes to induce fishers and ancillary workers to leave the industry, early retirement grants and retraining aid, as mentioned by Commissioner Fischler. One day last week in Scotland the entire whitefish fleet agreed to switch off its satellite tracking systems for 24 hours in silent protest at the catastrophe that has engulfed the communities involved. In the main fisheries inspection centre there is a large screen on which dozens of tiny lights indicate the position of each fishing boat in the North Sea and around the Scottish coast. These lights represent information beamed from the satellite-tracking systems. One by one the lights went out, signifying in a dramatic way the fate that awaits Scotland's whitefish vessels. I hope the House will agree to provide this urgent and desperately needed support. Our fishing communities are crying out for help. Please heed their call.

Political group: PPE-DE