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Welsh MEP backs support for fishing industry
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A Welsh MEP has claimed the Welsh Assembly Government has not done all it can to help Welsh fishermen, as the industry reaches crisis point.
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Rising fuel costs, the price they receive for their catches – which has remained almost the same for more than a decade – and problems with exporting to Europe due to port blockades in France and Spain, have left the Wales fishing industry in despair.
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Conservative MEP Jonathan Evans has told 91Èȱ¬ Wales's current affairs programme Week In Week Out (Tuesday 24 June, 91Èȱ¬ One Wales) that as an MEP he would back attempts to support the fishing industry – but his hands are tied until the Welsh Assembly Government asks the European Union for permission to give financial aid.
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"We are able to then intervene and to argue the case with the European Commission, that's our role," says Jonathan Evans. "In fact, I lead in the European Parliament on issues relating to state aid. But it's very curious that I've never had a request from the Welsh Assembly Government, or any Local Authority in Wales, to make such a case."
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And Mr Evans says there are other ways the Welsh Assembly could help fishermen without needing approval from Europe.
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"If the Welsh Assembly Government wanted to give every fisheries business that operates within Wales up to 30,000 euros, over a period of three years, that's allowable, they don't even have to go and ask for that, that is permitted under the rules," he says.
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Scottish authorities have already given aid to their fishermen under these schemes, while support packages are being put together in France and Spain.
But Welsh Assembly Government Rural Affairs Minister Elin Jones AM says Wales cannot afford to follow suit.
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Getting permission is not the same as getting money from Europe, she says, and they would have to find the money out of existing budgets.
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"The Welsh government is not in a position to find that level of funding – which would be around £13 million at the very least in Wales – to find as. emergency aid for fishermen," she says.
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Fisherman such as Porthcawl trawlerman Barry Crouch would welcome any state help, but says at the moment he feels hindered rather than helped by Government.
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"If I sold the boat, with the quotas and everything else. this £100,000 boat is virtually worthless because the Government are basically stopping fishing, pricing us out of the market," he says. "So I've got to keep going and hopefully the Government will see sense and help the British fishermen."
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Elin Jones will be attending a crucial European Commission Agriculture and Fisheries Council meeting in Luxembourg on Tuesday 24 June to see if any aid for Welsh fishermen can be secured.
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She says she's doing her best to ensure a level playing field.
"I've made representation to the UK and will be doing so to the EU that these matters should be funded at an EU level in order to ensure that the French fishermen don't get support from their government and other fishermen throughout the EU are disadvantaged," she says.
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But fishermen are bracing themselves for further blockades on the continent as fears grow that French and Spanish fishermen will step up their protests.
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And as Welsh fishermen battle to survive, Week in Week Out examines whether the Welsh Assembly's strategy, still out to consultation, will come in time to save our inshore fleet.
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Week In Week Out, Tuesday, June 24, 91Èȱ¬ One Wales, 10.35pm.
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91Èȱ¬ Wales Publicity Team
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