Joe Borg stresses importance of Mediterranean fishing

European Fisheries and Maritime Affairs Commissioner Joe Borg is conducting a fact-finding mission in Italy aimed at understanding better the challenges facing the Italian fishing industry.

A spokesman for the commissioner said that during his first visit to Italy as EU commissioner, Borg met Scarpa Bonazza, Under Secretary responsible for fisheries and agriculture, and also visited two aquaculture plants in Valle Morosina and Valle Figheri in Venice.

Dr Borg then proceeded to Rome for talks with Italian Agriculture Minister Giovanni Alemanno. Dr Borg's delegation yesterday travelled to Sicily where he delivered a lecture at the University of Catania. During his various meetings, Dr Borg encouraged stakeholders to play their part in the adoption of the measures proposed by the Commission to protect fish stocks and reduce the adverse impact of over-fishing in the Mediterranean.

He said stakeholders had an important role to play in ensuring the successful implementation of measures aimed at ensuring sustainable fisheries and, through dialogue, encouraging the development of common measures throughout the Mediterranean.

Catches had been declining over the past 20 years in the Mediterranean and urgent action was needed to avoid the problems experienced with some of the most commercially important stocks in the North Sea and the Atlantic, Dr Borg said.

He said the measures proposed by the Commission had specifically been designed for the Mediterranean. They would put in place an integrated and flexible framework that takes into account the differences between fisheries, stocks and habitats. International dialogue and cooperation were the key to the future of Mediterranean fisheries, he said.

Dr Borg noted that fishing plays an important role in the Mediterranean.

"We must therefore do our utmost to secure its future. We need, first, to ensure the adoption and application of measures to maintain sustainable fisheries and, second, dialogue with our partners around the Mediterranean to develop fisheries management measures for the whole region."