Fisheries resources: conservation and sustainable development in Mediterranean Sea, action plan

The European adopted its own-initiative report drafted by Giorgio LISI (EPP-ED, Italy) on fisheries resources in the Mediterranean. (Please see the summary of 20/05/03.) Parliament asked the Commission not to encourage the establishment of new fisheries protection zones (FPZs) before having assessed their workability and the implications in the event of third countries taking a similar step. The programme proposed by the Commission is ambitious in overall terms, in that it seeks to achieve objectives which are largely contingent on actions by third countries in a very short space of time, despite the fact that new, reliable scientific data is not yet available. Parliament emphasised the need to coordinate research and to establish a model for the Mediterranean which can be used to extrapolate reliable data. Finally, Parliament believed that the extreme fragmentation of the market could be overcome if the centralisation of landing points were to be promoted - the practicalities of which would have to be compatible with the specific nature of the Mediterranean. It supported the establishment of local data-collection networks in order to facilitate research in this area.�