Activities of Ioannis A. TSOUKALAS related to 2009/2107(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
A new impetus for the Strategy for the Sustainable Development of European Aquaculture (debate)
Amendments (19)
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas the aquaculture sector directly interacts with policy areas which are of prime importance to our society, such as the environment, tourism, urban planning, regional development, public health and consumer protection, and whereas it is therefore essential that due consideration be given to the sector's interests and that it be treated fairly,
Amendment 40 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital O
Recital O
O. whereas EU products currently face fierce competition from imports from non- EU countries (above all, Turkey, Chile, Vietnam and China), where companies can operate with much lower overheads, as they are not subject to the same stringent environmental and plant health legislation, thereby putting the EU aquaculture sector under further pressure, affecting food quality and putting consumers' health in danger,
Amendment 47 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Expresses the view that a strong sustainable aquaculture sector could act as a catalyst for the development of many remote, coastal and rural areas in the EU and contribute to the development of related production activities;
Amendment 50 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Welcomes the creation of the European Aquaculture Technology and Innovation Platform, taking into account the need for the aquaculture sector to be supported by excellence in research and innovation in order to respond to the emerging challenges;
Amendment 52 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Considers it essential that the Member StatUnderlines that the reduction of red tape will encourage investments in the sector and considers it essential that the Member States in close cooperation with local authorities implement administrative simplification procedures as soon as possible, introducing transparent and standardised concession procedures in respect of applications for the establishment of new aquaculture plants;
Amendment 72 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Considers it essential, lastly, that all the appropriate steps be taken to ensure that any aquaculture product imported into the EU from a third country, either for consumption or for processing, complies in full with the same public health and food safety standards as the equivalent Community product, and that meticulous checks at the appropriate sites contribute effectively towards this, without creating new trade barriers, but in encouraging the exchange of best practices with developing countries;
Amendment 77 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Calls on the Commission to set out in that regulation specific basic criteria and general rules for the various product categories, with which every aquaculture establishment in the Community must comply, but to delegate responsibility for the implementation phase to the competent territorial authoritiand checks on the operation of the establishments to the competent authorities of the Member States, in full accordance with the principle of subsidiarity – e.g. parameters on environmental impact, water supply, feeding of farmed fish, molluscs and crustaceans, product traceability and labelling, and fish health and respect for feeding habits, etc.;
Amendment 81 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Calls on the Commission to strive to ensure that the Member States make a formalto undertakinge to document and apply their countries’' existing environmental and tourism protection legislation and – in respect of those zones not subject to restrictions – to adopt the necessary development plans for the management of marine, coastallegislation on all coastal area activities within the framework of and inland water areas, so that aquaculture operations can be set up by means of facilitating access to spacetegrated spatial plan and a balanced development of all the activities in that area;
Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Hopes that this Fund will take into due account the need to provide financial support for SMEs and family-run enterpriseenterprises in the sector, regardless of size, based on their contribution to the social and economic development of the coastal area and with the emphasis on remote and border areas;
Amendment 97 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 a (new)
Paragraph 20 a (new)
20a. Supports the Member States in simplifying the licensing procedures that would encourage access to new sites and facilitate long-term access to existing sites, especially in the sites where SMEs and family-run enterprises operate;
Amendment 99 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Emphasises also the need to ensure increased financial contributions for scientific research, innovation and technology transfers in the field of sustainable, organic, offshore and freshwater aquaculture, and for enterprises which are to convert part or all of conventional production to organic production, by means of sectoral policies covering all key aspects, from the supply chain to the optimisation and promotion of products on the market, with better management of those aspects in the thematic axes set out under the Structural Funds and in Community programmes;
Amendment 103 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)
Paragraph 22 a (new)
22a. Hopes that the European Fisheries Fund, in taking account of the international financial crisis also, will provide financial support for all enterprises in the sector, on the same terms and conditions, regardless of geographical/spatial criteria;
Amendment 106 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Calls on the Commission to provide incentives for the development of offshore aquaculture facilities operating in difficult environmental and climate conditions (e.g. in the Atlantic Ocean) by allowing suitable derogations to the rules on state aid and proposes to the Commission to determine the extent, intensity and size of these derogations among Member States, and even within the same Member State, in order to avoid the distortion of fair competition between producers of aquaculture products;
Amendment 109 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to develop the role of the professional aquaculturist and to introduce a training policy which meets the needs of the sector and which fully harnesses the possibility not only of retraining members of the professional fishing industry in alternative methods of managing aquatic environments but also contributes to creating secure jobs for young people in rural and coastal areas and the outermost regions and especially in regions that depend to a great extent on fisheries and aquaculture activities;
Amendment 111 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. Calls on the Member States to consider crethe possibility of establishing an organisationg specialist organisations for the promotion of aquaculture productsed in promoting aquaculture products, studying the demand, monitoring and recording the current prices of the market of aquaculture products and its trends, and acting as booster of production by demand; calls also on the Commission to extend the rules on the common market organisations to the sustainable aquaculture sector and to support and provide incentives for promotional campaigns at EU level and on external markets;
Amendment 121 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29
29. Reiterates the views it has already expressed in its resolution on the adoption of a European Cormorant Management Plan*1, and points out that reducing the prejudice caused by cormorants and other birds of prey to aquaculture firms is a major factor of production costs and thus in their survival and competitiveness;
Amendment 125 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
Paragraph 30
30. Calls on the Commission to propose, in close cooperation with the Member States and having taken account of the various geographical and climatological conditions, the production techniques used, the particular nature of the species farmed and the impact on the cost of production, specific criteria in relation to the well-being of farmed fish, such as maximum levels of farming density, the quantity of vegetable and animal proteins that can be used in feedstuffs on fish farms, and which take into account the nutritional requirements of the fish species farmed, the phases in their life cycle and the environmental conditions, and to promote transportation and slaughter practices which limit sources of stress, and the changing of water in fish ponds in such a way as to guarantee the well-being ofnot to disturb the fish being farmed there;
Amendment 134 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31
Paragraph 31
31. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to strive to ensure that Community customs legislation is applied rigorously to allhroughout the whole chain of aquaculture products, including feedstuffs and raw materials for feedstuffs, imported from third countries;
Amendment 143 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35 a (new)
Paragraph 35 a (new)
35a. Calls on the Commission to launch impact assessment studies concerning the possible effects that Community trade agreements may have to the aquaculture sector;