Ian Gatt, SPFA chief executive said: “Control and enforcement is one of the key cornerstones of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) which needs to be applied in a uniform manner across the Member States - this simply didn’t happen under the old CFP.
“It’s imperative this is rectified under the current CFP. Scottish pelagic fishermen are not alone in insisting that control legislation is designed and implemented in a way that provides confidence that all Member States and third country vessels fishing in EU waters are operating under the same rules.
“This is also clearly spelt out in the Pelagic Advisory Council CFP recommendations document. The coming months will be a litmus test for the new CFP. Regionalisation is hailed as the new dawn, let’s hope it doesn’t fall at the first hurdle which will be the case if control measures are not harmonised within and across marine regions.
“The SPFA underlined the vital importance of this matter to Mr Eustice and reminded him that this particular issue is reserved to the UK government and has to be delivered. We will not accept a situation where our fleet is bound by stringent control measures, whether that be CCTV or observers and other Member States and third country vessels like Norwegian and Faroese are exempted. This would make a complete mockery of the system.”
