WRITTEN QUESTION E-3655/02 by Rosa Miguélez Ramos (PSE) to the Commission. Black tide in Galicia: worst affected sectors.
Date: 2002-12-18
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU aid, EU environmental policy, Galicia, aquaculture, environmental protection, fishing fleet, fishing industry, indemnification, man-made disaster, oil pollution

10.7.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 161 E/123

The Commission has currently already taken all the measures necessary to speed up the establishment of
the future European Maritime Safety Agency. On 29 January 2003 Mr Willem De Ruiter was appointed as
its Executive Director. Moreover, the Commission has also launched the setting-up of the Community
system for monitoring shipping traffic, SafeSeaNet. It has also asked the Member States to bring forward
the compilation of national plans for accommodating ships in distress at ports of refuge and convened a
coordinating meeting on this subject on 31 January 2003.

With regard to new measures, a proposal for a Regulation (2) prohibiting the carriage of heavy fuel by
single-hull oil tankers from or to ports of the Union and speeding up the replacement of single-hull ships
by double-hull ships was submitted by the Commission to the Council and Parliament on 20 December
2002.

The Commission has asked that Council and Parliament examine this text as a matter of urgency with a
view to its adoption. It should be noted that in certain respects the proposed measures are more stringent
than the corresponding American regulations.

Moreover, the Commission has initiated the drafting of a number of new legislative measures intended, in
particular, to impose penalties on any person (i.e. not only the shipowner but also the owner of the cargo,
the classification society or any other person concerned) liable for pollution due to gross negligence.
Provisions will be proposed to counter (deliberate) discharge at sea and will be supplemented with
measures on gathering evidence and prosecuting perpetrators.

(1) COM(2002) 681 final.
(2) COM(2002) 780 final.

(2003/C 161 E/125)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3655/02

by Rosa Miguélez Ramos (PSE) to the Commission

(18 December 2002)

Subject: Black tide in Galicia: worst affected sectors

The Prestige disaster has hit a region which is heavily dependent on fishing. The coastal fleet has been
paralysed. The damage caused is inestimable. Those coastal fishermen who have been able to go to sea
have already found, even in areas supposedly not affected by the oil spill, that species usually found in the
traditional fishing grounds have disappeared.

Moreover, there is a booming aquaculture industry in the districts affected, which provides a large number
of jobs and helps to make the European Union the largest world producer of mussels and turbot, for
example. The oil slicks have ruined not only the current harvest of both mussels and turbot but also, in the
case of mussels, future harvests as well. It is well known that this industry gathers live seed mussels along
the coast of Galicia, and that this seed has been affected by the oil spill and has now died.

What specific measures is the Commission, and specifically its Fisheries DG, considering with a view to
providing economic assistance for the Galician coastal fleet, and for the mussel and turbot-farming sectors?

(2003/C 161 E/126)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3656/02

by Rosa Miguélez Ramos (PSE) to the Commission

(18 December 2002)

Subject: Black tide in Galicia: damage to fishing

The ‘Prestige’ disaster has hit an economic sector which is fundamental for Galicia: the fishing industry,
which employs 120 000 people representing 12,5 % of the active population.

What measures will the Commission, and specifically its Fisheries DG, take to help the fishermen, fish-
farmers and shellfish-gatherers in Galicia who have been affected by the Prestige disaster?