Mr President, I think it is worth recalling that there is very much a feeling of crisis in the fishing industry throughout Europe. This is very certainly true of my constituency of North-East Scotland which is about half the British fishing industry. There is a feeling that people out there are imposing regulations on them and that they are being asked to bear the cost at a time when they are deeply worried about the future of the industry, about the future of the communities that depend on fishing, about the downstream processing, about the markets. All these issues have been addressed in the Committee on Fisheries and I think will be addressed very much in the future in this Parliament.

Having said that I think the question of principle has to be supported, namely that there has to be a uniform system of inspection and there has to be a uniform system of measurement. So the principle is not one that I would take issue with, far from it.

There is, however, a matter of justice. Many fishermen are very strapped for cash. They are being pressed by their banks to repay overdrafts and now they are being asked to pay part of the cost of measurement. At least there is the concession in this proposal that the cost be shared. I think we should have a lot of sympathy for the fishermen who are being asked to fork out large sums for measurement as well as for everything else. It is a bit like those who are asked by the British customs authority to be VAT inspectors of their own businesses. They are asked to bear the costs and this has always been a sore point with small businesses. The same is true of the fishermen.

We should perhaps in future look more generously at their predicament. If we want them to measure their boats we should fund this much more fully. But at least this is a step in the right direction and, like Mr Gallagher, I would say that is something which will perhaps give a little confidence to the fishermen of Scotland and Ireland to know that they are not being left on their own and that they are being treated as European fishermen. So I broadly support this measure.