Vasco Cordeiro highlights in England a regional fisheries policy based on research, preservation of resources and participation of industry players
The President of the Regional Government stated in Poole, UK, that the European Union should follow a less imposing approach to the Common Fisheries Policy and focus on a policy based on the sharing of goals and the active search for solutions with industry players at regional level.
Vasco Cordeiro spoke in the panel dedicated to the theme "Sustainable Development of the Seas - Opportunities and Challenges" under the Conference marking the European Maritime Day. He also addressed the fisheries policy pursued in the Azores, stressing that it is based on three main pillars: knowledge and research, preservation of resources and active participation of industry players.
The President of the Government, who also spoke as the President of the Conference of Peripheral and Maritime Regions (CPMR), underlined the specific cases of self-regulation that have been followed by the Region in defining specific quotas for certain species by island. In this regard, he mentioned the participation of fishers in the definition of some measures for the management of fishing grounds and the preservation of resources, which are fundamental to the development of the sector and to the increase of fishers' income.
Stressing the specific nature of the Azores as Outermost Region, Vasco Cordeiro urged the Commission and the other European institutions to respect the powers of regions, namely with regard to maritime spatial planning and the protection of resources.
Alluding to the potential for the development of the Integrated Maritime Policy and pioneering projects related, for example, to renewable energies, the President of the Government defended the need for the EU to develop financial support mechanisms adjusted to regional reality as the "Juncker Plan” and the market mechanisms that support it tend not to include or be interested in smaller regions.
In this context, Vasco Cordeiro defended the need to strengthen the Cohesion Policy to support projects in these regions.