Dr. Ellen Pikitch:

The Deputy has just taken a deep breadth as he is worried about what I might say.

I really do think the Deputy should take a deep breath and you should congratulate yourselves on taking a big step forward with the Common Fisheries Policy. This is a major step forward in terms of progress. That is important. Rome was not built in a day and the Common Fisheries Policy will evolve over time. I think one can incorporate this advice. I do not understand all the processes, but perhaps it is possible to make an amendment specifically for forage fish. One might want to do that. I wonder if one can do so without having to revisit all the other questions again. This is pretty new science with new recommendations in the report. When the campaign to try to reform the Common Fisheries Policy started, we did not have this kind of advice. In fact when the taskforce started, we did not have so many of the studies that I have talked about today. It would be good if members could find a way to incorporate it in an amendment.

In the United States, we have already seen one state, the State of California, adopt these recommendations almost immediately for its policy on forage fish. It has a specific policy that applies only to forage fish and not to other species. It had not had one before. It was good timing. The State of California had already decided that forage fish were so critically important that the state should have a policy specifically for that group of fish. It had been working on it and then the report came out, which had everything it needed. The state recognised the report had everything it needed and adopted it.

I had an opportunity to talk at the European Parliament in Brussels last year. I thought the conversation was very productive. Many people had an interest in seeing the benefits of this approach. One might have had concerns when one first heard we might be talking about reduced catches, but then one would realise we were talking about a global fishery that is more valuable. I think people were happy to hear about this and wanted it to be taken in. I have been on the talks circuit around the world for the last year and a half. In many cases, I was asked directly by management authorities to speak with them because they are interested in trying to apply these principles to their particular cases. I have spoken to such bodies at state and regional management council levels. I spoke to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization at last year's meeting of the Committee on Fisheries after a group of UN ambassadors who are interested in fisheries asked me to speak at global level. I think this is really taking hold. It is not too late.