Most European Union members believe introduction of ‘transferable fishing concessions’ (TFCs/ITQs) should be a decision for member states rather than a diktat from Brussels.
This view emerged at a meeting of EU leaders and NGOs with MEPs in Brussels. The fisheries commissioner Maria Damanaki is said to be now less confident on pushing TFCs through in the CFP reform but has strong convictions that all discarding must be stopped.
Ireland argued strongly that the introduction of mandatory TFCs would inevitably mean quotas be traded internationally, threatening the entire economic survival of Killybegs as a major fishing port if foreign buyers bought up its pelagic quotas.
But
