Part of 1. 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs – in the Senedd at 2:03 pm on 28 June 2017.
I thank the Cabinet Secretary for that reply. Most people, I think, believe that the common fisheries policy has been a total economic, environmental and social disaster, and has caused catastrophic damage to our marine ecology. [Interruption.] Only somebody who doesn’t have a coastline to his constituency could be as ignorant as the Member for Blaenau Gwent in this respect. We’ve also seen the plundering by industrial fleets of our UK waters and the devastation of the British fishing industry, including that of Wales. Is it not vitally important that we recover the right to control fishing within the 6 to 12-mile limit, which is subject to the 1964 London convention on fishing? It will be necessary to leave that convention in order to do so. Will the Cabinet Secretary assure Welsh fishermen that the Welsh Government will support that measure?