In a Guardian article on 26 August, Mr Monbiot highlighted the “old colonial” fishing agreements the EU has struck with Senegal and other West African countries:
“As a result, Senegal’s marine ecosystem has started to go the same way as ours. Between 1994 and 2005 the weight of fish taken from the country’s waters fell from 95,000 tonnes to 45,000 tonnes. Muscled out by European trawlers, the indigenous fishery is crumbling.”
In a letter to the paper, Mr Farage said: “George Monbiot is right…I have campaigned hard in an attempt to discourage the EU’s “parliament” from approving such deals. However, despite evidence of the environmental and social damage, Labour, Tory and Lib Dem MEPs continue to support them. Why?”
Mr Monbiot noted: “The government of Senegal…refused to renew its fishing agreement with the EU. But European fishermen – mostly from Spain and France – have found ways round the ban. They have been registering their boats as Senegalese, buying up quotas from local fishermen and transferring catches at sea from local boats. These practices mean that they can continue to take the country’s fish, and have no obligation to land them in Senegal.”
In fact, as UKIP MEP Graham Booth had already pointed out, the EU has admitted that it is responsible for poverty and famine in West Africa. Its Committee on Development reported that EU policies had exploited Africa economically, especially in terms of plundering its fish stocks. Yet the report also advised African countries not to create new farm land because of concerns about deforestation – despite the fact that farming is often the only option for countries whose fish stocks have been sucked dry by EU fleets.
“This is a moral outrage,” said Mr Booth, asking: “Is it any wonder the world is facing a food crisis?”
On 27 July Mr Farage submitted a written question to the EU Parliament saying that “The fisheries partnership agreements that have been concluded with third countries are totally unfair, extremely damaging for the local population and have environmentally disastrous consequences. Like WWF, Oxfam and some others, I strongly believe that they do not constitute ‘sustainable development’.”
He asked for an inquiry to be carried out into these agreements and asked: “Will the Commission maintain the same position? Will the Commission stop these appalling fisheries deals?”
The Commission dismissed the question with a bland response that claimed, among other things, that fishing agreements “contribute to achieving the overall objectives of sustainable fishing through the establishment of partnerships with third countries, which are based on the principles of conservation and sustainable management of fishery resources.”
UKIP systematically rejects the EU fisheries agreements. Will you support us? Contact your MEP and ask why he or she supported supported them, or else abstained on such an important issue.
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