Practically all Hollandse Nieuwe is sustainably fished

Toespraak | 16-06-2009

Toespraak van de minister van Landbouw, Natuur en Voedselkwaliteit, G. Verburg, bij de Haringparty in Brussel, 15 juni 2009 (Engelstalig).

Ladies and Gentlemen,

A warm welcome to you all. I am delighted to open the traditional Herring Party here at the Dutch Mission in Brussels for the second time. I am also delighted to see you all here:

• our Brussels guests: colleagues from the Mission, representatives of the European institutions and interest groups;
• and those who have had to make a long journey from the Netherlands: people involved in fisheries and, of course, our own LNV staff.

Let me start by telling you some good news.

If you eat a Hollandse Nieuwe this year, there is every chance that it will have been sustainably fished.

Three years ago Dutch vessels fishing for North Sea herring were the first to obtain European MSC certification. But since Scottish, Norwegian, Danish and Swedish vessels also fish for Hollandse Nieuwe, not all herring was sustainably caught until now.

Now the Scottish, Norwegian and Swedish herring fishers are also certified. Only the Danes are still waiting for their certificate, but they do not expect to have long to wait.

This means that practically all the available Hollandse Nieuwe can bear the MSC logo. And that is a big step forwards, towards sustainability.

I will leave it at that for now, as far as herring is concerned, because naturally, in a place like this, I cannot avoid the subject of the coming reform of the Common Fisheries Policy.

The Commission's Green Paper has now been published and the debate has begun. The Netherlands believes that we should direct our attention to the following themes, among others:

• Ecology: for example, how do we deal with discards?
• Economy and efficiency: what market mechanisms can be use to achieve the Common Fisheries Policy objectives?
• Legislation and public support: is regulation too detailed and too centralised?
• Management model and governance: how can we gain greater public support for the Common Fisheries Policy? How can we make the sector more responsible?
• Integration with other policy: how can we give greater consideration to other marine policy in the new Common Fisheries Policy?

We are of course facing a significant challenge in the dilemma of short-term economic interests versus long-term ecological interests. For me this is an almost daily and tough struggle.

I can see elements of these themes in the Green Paper.

I set great store by good preparation for the debate, which is vitally important to the fisheries sector.

In the Netherlands we have had wide-ranging debate about the future of fisheries policy. The debate will culminate in a Dutch vision, which will be published in September. The principles underlying the vision are expressed in the words: simpler, better and more sustainable.

The Common Fisheries Policy touched a nerve in the sector. It unleashed many emotions. Not only the fishers themselves but other stakeholder organisations also proved to be highly conversant with the subject matter. All parties agreed that the current Common Fisheries Policy is too complicated and is not sufficiently in line with practice. People would really like to see a stronger connection between fishing practice and policy development. This brings the Government closer to the working fishermen.

There was also the prevailing idea that feasibility would improve if the sector were more involved in the development of policy. We anticipate that this too will have a positive impact on enforcement. To be continued ………

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I will conclude by coming back to the herring. No country has a herring culture like the Netherlands. This is hardly surprising, as the Dutch are traditionally a nation of fishermen.

However, so are the Norwegians, the Danes, the English, the Spanish and the Japanese. Yet young herring, our "maatjesharing", is very much an exotic speciality in their countries.

The fact that herring is such a big hit with us, is probably because the herring gutting was invented in our regions, although the Dutch and Flemings both lay claim to this honour. In the next while there will be a lot of herring parties like this in the Netherlands. And quite right, too, as herring is part of our cultural heritage. But above all ….. it is, of course, absolutely delicious.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am now going to taste the first herring.

Bon appétit!