Fish Fight

FISH FIGHT LAUNCHES IN EUROPE!

Added on: 31/05/2011 | At: 11:58am | By: Hugh

"Today is a massive day for the Fish Fight campaign, and for the mission to end the insanely wasteful practise of discarding thousands of tonnes of fine edible fish at sea. This scandalous activity, which fishermen, conservationists and the fish-eating public all abhor, is the final insult of a Common Fisheries Policy that is universally agreed to be broken, and no longer fit for purpose.

Back in January we broadcast our Fish Fight documentaries in the UK, and launched a campaign to help the British public find a voice, and protest against this shameful practise, that is both an environmental crime and a moral outrage.

We promised them that we would bring their petition here to Brussels and hand it over to tour European Fisheries Commisaioner, so that their voice would be heard, and added to the urgent dialogue over CFP reform.

To my delight, the number of names on that petition now stands at over 676, 000, and it’s still rising every hour of every day. And I’ve come to Brussels today to honour my pledge to every single one of those Fish Fighters.

But I didn’t want to come here today and simply hand over a piece of paper with a lot of names on it. And I certainly didn’t want to imply that the Fish Fight is over, or the battle over discards is won.  Far from it.  I want today to mark a new phase in our Fish Fight, where we take our message –  and the public outrage over wasting fish – right across Europe.

That’s why today the Fish Fight website goes live across Europe. The campaign’s main website, www.fishfight.net will be joined by 11 more microsites in 11 different languages. They are:

www.fishfight.pl (Polish)
www.fishfight.se (Swedish)
www.fishfight.de (German)
www.fishfight.dk  (Danish)
www.fishfight.fr (French)
www.fishfight.gr  (Greek)
www.fishfight.es  (Spanish)
www.fishfight.it  (Italian)
www.fishfight.nl  (Dutch)
www.fishfight.be  (Flemish)
www.fishfightpt.com (Portuguese)

We want to give the whole of Europe a voice to help end discards.

 And that’s why we’ve brought you our monumental wreck. It’s a working sculpture that’s come to Brussels to do a job. To remind everyone who walks through this square what’s at stake, as the process of CFP reform comes to a head in the coming year. Fisheries ministers, MEPs, members of the CFP reform group, can all take this as a measure of popular feeling on this vital issue. And we’re all hoping that it will help them do the right thing in the coming months.

Finally I’m delighted that our Europeans Fisheries Commisioner Maria Damanaki is here in person today, to receive our petition and see the launch of the Europe-wide campaign. I know she’s already taken the Fish Fight message to heart, and that through her leadership, the ending of discards is now the top priority for a reformed CFP. But to achieve this, she needs your support, here in Brussels today, and all over Europe tomorrow. 

So, Ladies and Gentlemen, let’s hear it for Fish Fight, for and end to discards, for a sane and sustainable future to our fisheries, and for good food, from a well-nurtured Ocean, for our children, and our grandchildren."

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall