Federation Annual General Meeting 2013 Open for All Recreational Fishermen

[shanook]

My close friend couldn't come as well, it is expected that a lot of people have commitments but just 50 people in the room says a lot.

[ganni]

Well everyone has his commitments, I attended even if i had got back from PV just 3 hours before.  There is no justification for the poor attendance.

[caldaland]

I have not attended because i have no faith in the federation whatsoever. If the event was organized by someone else i prolly would have attended.

[Destination Sea]

I cannot understand why all these complications are being uprooted when things can be made quite simple. - or am I missing something.
Recreational fishing should not be included as commercial fishing.
In my opinion things should be simple and as follows.
1.        Recreational fishing cannot use longlines over a certain no of hooks, nets, trawling and other such commercial items.
2.        Respect minimum size of fish.
3.        Cannot fish in conservation areas
4.        Need permit to fish controlled stock ez Bluefin tuna
5.        Cannot sell  fish


Those who would like to go further in their hobby need to enroll  with the fisheries under MFC abiding with the relative rules.
simple, and   easy to control .

[shanook]

Wish it was that easy:
the fisheries has placed these suggestions and they dont show any goodwill from the fisheries:

(a) Obbligazzoni li kull dghajsa jkollha installata fiha tip ta' tracking system.
(b) Limitazzjoni fuq zoni fejn MFCs ikunu jistghu johorgu jistadu.
(c) Limitazzjoni fuq l-irkaptu.
(d) Limitazzjoni bil-jiem matul is-sena.

The federation did not agree with these but in a paragraph it stated:

Minkejja dawn l-argumenti li tqajjmu gie maqbul unanimament illi ghar-rigward
tal-proposti (a), (b) u (d), dawn ghandhom jigu mistharrga mid-Direttorat b'mod
profond imma xjentifiku u ekonomiku sabiex tkun tista' tittiehed decizjoni finali
fuqhom.
regarding (c) the limitations has been set by the subcommittee.

So as you can see its not that easy and simple. Since the fisheries is not taking care of Recreational but comparing us with the commercial???

[lazyfisherman]

Well said Shanook. Although there is no doubt that more control on recreational fishing seems inevitable, it is clear that the issues discussed between the Federation and the fisheries and the proposed controls by fisheries are NOT a necessary requirement due to EU directives but seem much more a case of jumping the gun and trying to appease the commercial sector.

The measures proposed by fisheries are simply a poor attempt at adapting existing controls on commercial fisheries (that ARE an EU requirement) to the recreational sector. As things stand, the recreational sector has largely been ignored by the EU, except in the case of certain fish species where minimum sizes are set and management plans are involved - e.f. eels and salmon and an obligation to collect certain data about recreational fishing. In fact it was only a couple of months ago that the EU parliament has voted in favour of recreational fishing to be included in the Common Fisheries Policy (See a report on this below). What this will involve remains to be seen but discussions at EU level are ongoing so I fail to see the reasons for this rush by fisheries to change all that recreational fishing has been till now.


Sea Fishing – EU Recognises the Needs of Recreational Anglers

In addition to the end of 'discards', this week's Common Fisheries Policy reforms have seen recreational fishing included for the first time.

The Angling Trust report:

Angling Organisations across Europe survived a tense vote by MEPs on reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) yesterday after it became apparent that Europe's Greens were attempting to block the inclusion of 'recreational fishing opportunities' from the final resolution.


In the end the reference was included when the Parliament voted by 502 to 137 in favour of sweeping reforms of the Common Fisheries Policy which will see, amongst other measures, an end to discarding of fish; a move to restoring depleted stocks and harvesting fish at maximum sustainable yield (the maximum amount of fish that can be harvested without depleting the stock) by 2015.


European anglers have been lobbying hard over recent years for recreational fishing to be recognised with specific reference in the reformed CFP after being invisible stakeholders in Europe's fisheries policy ever since its introduction in 1983.


More recently recreational fishing has come under the spotlight for the perceived impact it has on commercial fishing opportunities without considering the huge socio-economic contribution recreational fishing (angling) makes to Europe and its extremely low environmental impact.


Late last year anglers' efforts were rewarded when the EU Fisheries Committee included an amendment to the basic regulation text which would mean that the reformed CFP ensures that fishing activities are managed in a way that contributes to recreational fishing opportunities.


Jan Kappel, Secretary General of the European Anglers Alliance (EAA), representing approximately three million affiliated members across Europe, said:

"I would like to congratulate all 502 MEPs who voted in favour of the final text. There will now be tough negotiations with the Council (the Member States) who will try and water down the reform measures voted through by the parliament. The explicit mention of recreational fishing in the CFP is great news. We expect the Council and Commission to accept the parliament´s opinion on this issue. Recreational fishers, like commercial fishers, are stakeholders in European fish stocks generating jobs and money. In many coastal areas recreational sea angling is by far the most important segment of the fisheries sector."


Mike Heylin, Chairman of EAA's Sea Sub-Group said:

"Finally we have recognition of the needs of recreational anglers within the Common Fisheries Policy; that will mean that stocks have to be managed to suit anglers as well as commercial fishing. This is very welcome. New threats to recreational sea anglers´ access and their right to fishing are just around the corner. Recreational sea angling probably won't be treated fairly without this clear mention in the CFP as suggested by the parliament. I'll urge the Council to do as the parliament did, give recreational fishing an explicit mention in the CFP's Article 2."

[ken82]

jien gejt ghalkemm mhux membru ghalkemm jiena pero dilettant tas sajd mill art.