Northampton
Commentary
June 29th 2012
There was no Commentary for the Strasbourg
week of 11th - 14th June due to my return home early on
the Wednesday; reason, sausages! I have been trying to help the Lincolnshire
Sausage Association to obtain Geographical Protection status for their product
but their application has been turned down. So on Thursday 14th I
was in London at Defra arguing the case. The Lincolnshire people have appealed
and it is now under review; wait and see.
Following day, a visit to a farm near
Uppingham. All in the name of engaging with that important sector of UK life
and very informative for me. Quite a busy week.
The following Tuesday was Leicester,
talking to the Ambulance people about the new regional system. I have been
concerned that response times in Northants have been below national average.
The officers I spoke to were confident that the two year old East Midlands
Service would improve things. We shall see.
A great deal of time recently has been with
the fishermen of Boston. I highlighted their problems in the first of my
monthly Lincolnshire Echo columns three months ago. Due to the wretched EU
Fisheries Policy, the CFP, up to June 3rd they have had only 3 days
work since August. Not having quotas for white fish, except for some sprat
quota borrowed from Germany, they are reduced to shell fish. To their great
frustration there are 30,000 tons of covckles in the Wash, ready to harvest all
that time. Their lack of work is a total loss to them, insurances and finance
for their boats still need paying, as well as house keeping.
In addition, across from their moorings is
a factory which takes all their cockles for canning, selling to a ready market
in Portugal and Spain. So these workers are also out of work while the country
loses foreign exchange. We are supposed to be in debt!
After several visits talking to the EIFCA
(Eastern Inshore fisheries and Conservation Agency) we had success, noted in a
letter in the Boston Standard very generously giving me thanks. Then disaster.
Perhaps you caught the TV news in the East, early last week, of a vandal
releasing 5000 litres of Pesticide in Peterborough on Sunday evening, 17th
June. This found its way into the River Nene and went down stream. The Dept for
Food Standards promptly closed fishing in the Wash. If you think that’s
appropriate action then know this.
First, when I called the Environment
Agency, which advised the Food Standards people, the officer I spoke to knew
nothing of it! That was on Wednesday morning as I waited for my flight to
Brussels at Birmingham airport. Second call, Wednesday evening with an informed
officer, the pesticide had got as far as Wisbech. That’s 25 miles in three
days, with another 10 miles to the Wash. As I have previously discovered, the
Env Agency are very well versed in river flows, speeds and times of arrival at
specific points.
So, the fishermen could have been fishing
for at least three days, why stop them early? After all, if the cockles were to
be contaminated best to get as much in as possible before that happened. Now
that seems to be common sense, but we are dealing here with an agent of the EU
which operates the “Precautionary principle”. If it looks dangerous ban it.
Then examine it and perhaps allow continuance under a regime of rules, regs and
red tape.
And that is why the Boston Fishermen have
such a problem, like all the fishermen around our coasts. Just survey the
agencies they have to deal with; EIFCA, Natural England, MMO (Maritime
Maintenance Organisation), Environment Agency and Food Standards Agency.
And so to last Friday and another trip to
Kings Lynn for a bigger meeting of fishermen EIFCA and all. This time it was an
allegation of marking the sea bed, fishing have been resumed on Monday of that
week. What does it matter if a boat marks the sand or fishing gear cuts a hole,
the next tide or two smoothes it over again. But at least they were able to go
on fishing this time. My contribution was, I hope, common sense. “If that has
happened”, I said, “it is due to a careless fisherman and you can’t punish all
for the sake of one or two. Answer, send inspectors out unannounced, without
warning, and check out boats at random. Any guilty parties found can then be
dealt with”. I didn’t bother to say
that, as a teacher, that happened to me. I had my share of School Inspectors
dropping in without notice, usually in the middle of a lesson. No complaint,
that’s as it should be and, no, I got no adverse reports.
By the way, EIFCA takes a serious view of
marking the sea bed. A short while ago one fisherman let his boat rest on the
sand an left a mark about a yard wide, 10 yards long, I’ve see n the photo. For
that he was fined, - £50,000 !! He got away with it because he refused, went to
court and found a magistrate with sense who quashed the fine.
Finally,
you may find this speech by Senator Ron Paul of interest,-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rCvfwoRGMg
- Ron Paul, Floor Speech, Jun. 19 2012
Derek Clark MEP
Northampton 1st July
2012
Lincolnshire members may well have seen my
column in the Lincolnshire Echo. I have a once a month spot, Roger Helmer
likewise, in alternate fortnights. My first column three months ago was to
highlight the problems of the Boston Fishermen. At the end of a non-Brussels /
Strasbourg I think it right to provide some further detail to illustrate the
great difficulties they have.
The fishermen of Boston are only allowed to
fish by the Eastern Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Agency (EIFCA). In turn
this unelected body is advised by Natural England, with the marine management
Organisation (MMO) also putting their oar in. Following EU rules and regs,
under the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), Boston is but a shadow of its former
thriving fishery. I have made several journeys to Boston and Kings Lynn trying
to help and you may also have seen the letter of thanks to me in the Boston
Standard from the Chairman of the Boston Fishermen’s Association
Boston Fishermen have been reduced to shell
fish as the quotas for white fish are virtually non-existent for them. True,
they got small quota recently for Sprat, but that was by borrowing from
Germany. Although there are over 30,000 tons of cockles in the Wash ready to
harvest most of the fishermen have only had 3 or 4 days fishing since last
August. After much effort the cockle fishery was opened to them from June 7th,
on a scheduled basis, day by day. They have an allowance of 2 tonnes per boat
per day, which is enough for decent living.
Then a near catastrophe struck on Monday 18th
June, cockle fishery closed again. This was due to the vandal who caused 5000
litres of pesticide to run into the River Nene at Peterborough. You may have
caught this on Eastern TV for it killed many fish in the river. The Food
standards Agency, acting on information
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