There is only one CFP…

Just a small comment on your story Discard ban concerns (SN; 28/09/15).

SNP MEP Ian Hudghton tells us “Discards were, however, part and parcel of the old and discredited CFP.”

He then goes on to tell us: “Fishermen must be allowed to adapt and develop new systems to comply with the new regime.”

It is like a needle stuck in a crack on an old 78 record, but it is well worth repeating. There is no “old and discredited CFP.”

There is only one CFP, the one the UK signed up to, that of Equal Access to a Common Resource, without discrimination.

The problem of discards is down to the quota system, which is part of the derogation from the real, unchanged CFP. There is no “new regime”, simply an add on to the derogation.

“The Commission must move away from governing by central diktat.”

Sorry to disappoint you, Mr Hudghton, but the Treaty of Amsterdam explicitly forbids any powers given up, being returned to the member states.

Magnie Stewart
Bressay