SP(2006)0453

SP(2006)0053

Results of vote in Parliament

The European Parliament adopted a resolution based on the own-initiative report drafted by Elspeth ATTWOOLL (ALDE, UK) on “Women's networks: fishing, farming and diversification.” The resolution was adopted by 365 votes in favour to 8 against with 13 abstentions. Parliament referred to the conference on the role of women in the fisheries sector organised by the Commission on 23-24 January 2003 in Brussels, and, whilst it welcomed the intention to host another Conference in the near future, felt that insufficient progress has been made.

Women's active participation in fisheries-related activities helps to preserve cultural traditions and specific practices and aids the survival of their communities, thereby ensuring the protection of cultural diversity in these regions. Parliament called on the Commission to produce a report identifying the nature, extent, objectives and activities of women's networks in fisheries throughout the EU, paying particular attention to the situation in the newer Member States. The Commission should look into specific measures to provide active support for both the development of existing women's networks, particularly where they are less consolidated, and their creation where no such networks exist. It should also consider what measures it might take to assist in the development of a women's network at pan-European Union level, paying particular attention to the need to eliminate linguistic barriers.

Parliament also called for the following:

-appropriate channels to increase and disseminate information on the situation of women in the various areas which make up the fisheries sector;

-active support for existing women's networks and the creation of new networks, at national, regional and local level, the need for close cooperation with the future European Institute for Gender Equality with a view to improved effectiveness as regards identifying and combating discrimination against women in these communities;

-training, and access to funding and loans, including micro-credits, to encourage entrepreneurship;

-more vocational training and education specially geared to the activities of women working in the fisheries sector;

- the maintenance of the FEMMES programme and include networks of women working in fisheries-related occupations;

- the involvement of women's networks in projects researching the impact of restructuring on the fishing and farming industries as an important use of fisheries-related European funding;

-the strengthening of women's effective participation in representative, decision-making and advisory fisheries bodies at European, national and regional level. Parliament believed that a Commission recommendation to the competent bodies to take action in this regard would make a positive contribution. All those engaged in the formation of Regional Advisory Councils should ensure the participation of representative delegates from women's networks in their activities , particularly with regard to work on the socio-economic impact of fisheries policy. In this connection, consideration should be given to the extent to which women's networks can be compensated for the costs they incur.

Parliament went on to state that it shared the concern of women working in the sector at the scant presence of young people in fishing activities, and called on the Commission to launch measures to encourage young people to work in the sector in order to ensure its continuity.

Finally, the Commission was asked to report regularly to Parliament on the development of women's networks in the fisheries sector and on the basis on which their activities are being funded.

T6-0532/2005

Debate in Parliament

A6-0341/2005

A6-0341/2005

The committee adopted the own-initiative report by Elspeth ATTWOOLL ( ALDE , UK ) entitled "Women's networks: fishing, farming and diversification". The report stressed the important, although "largely invisible", role women play in fisheries- dependent communities and called on the Commission to produce a report on the activities of women's networks in these communities throughout the EU, with a particular focus on the situation in the newer Member States. The Commission and Member States were urged to look into ways of supporting the development and creation of such networks, and eliminating barriers to women's full participation in the industry.

The report made a series of recommendations, including:

- more vocational training and education specially geared to the activities of women working in the fisheries sector;

- greater flexibility in the use of structural funds to allow "an integration of the activities of women in fisheries-dependent communities and of women in farming communities in coastal areas";

- measures to encourage young people to work in the sector in order to ensure its continuity;

- the participation of representative delegates from women's networks in the activities of Regional Advisory Councils.

Lastly, the Commission was asked to report regularly to Parliament on the development of women's networks in the fisheries sector and on the basis on which their activities are funded.

PE362.583

PE362.742