Pat  the Cope Gallagher, ALDE Coordinator on the Fisheries committee today organised a high level conference entitled "Shaping the future of the Common Fisheries Policy", attended by Commissioner Maria Damanaki and all six rapporteurs appointed by the Fisheries Committee to deal with the key reports of the CFP reform.   

This was a unique opportunity that brought together the major stakeholders for a frank exchange of views on key issues such as regionalisation, individual transferrable quota rights (ITQ), discards, maximum sustainable yield (MSY), small scale, Island and coastal fisheries and the external aspects of the CFP.

Pat the Cope Gallagher said today,

" This is the first opportunity for the European Parliament to be actively involved in the reform of the CFP. All six rapporteurs emphasized the urgent need for radical and ambitious reform. We must establish a reformed CFP which is environmentally, economically and socially sustainable . 

I believe that we should aim at achieving MSY by 2015 where possible, apply an approach based on avoidance, minimisation and incentives when tackling the issue of discards and we should carefully safeguard any potential ITQ system.

The one size fits all policy has not worked in the past and will not work in the future either. That is why we need to deliver on a new concept of regionalisation."

Carl Haglund (Svenska Folkpartiet - Finland), Vice President for the Committee on Fisheries and one of the six rapporteurs also said, "The CFP reform is not a zero-sum game.  Ecological sustainability in fisheries will also mean economical sustainability for fishermen. There can be no fisheries without fish and we must therefore strive for a win-win situation for the future common fisheries policy in Europe."