Maltese MEP David Casa spoke about a report on illegal fishing and unregistered fishing when he addressed the European Parliament plenary session in Strasbourg.

He said that the necessary measures should be taken to protect fishermen who observed the law. In this regard they had to correctly define the differences between legal and illegal fishing so that there would be no room for misinterpretation.

Mr Casa suggested that a management programme should be drawn up because a more efficient control system would aid Malta to be more coherent in the application of the rules and to lessen the error factor.

Most of the debates being held on fisheries focus on sustainability and the necessity to reach a balance between sea protection, fish preservation and fishing. Mr Casa said the rules were there and that fishermen must observe them for the benefit of all. The rules were formulated after studies were carried out in our seas and the guidelines were based on the information obtained.

Mr Casa said there should be agreement with neighbouring countries to adopt similar policies so that a one sea – one policy would be adopted. To reach these targets, he said, Malta must be prepared to share technical information with these countries and work for further partnerships. Collaboration between member states was very important.