Fishing

Struan was elected Senior Vice President of the European Parliament’s Fisheries Committee in 2009 and previously held the position of President in 2001. At that time he presided over the reform of the CFP, the long-term cod and hake recovery plans and the consequent crisis in the whitefish sector.

He also successfully fought off attempts to end the 12-mile limit and open up the Shetland Box. He won a battle to preserve the 200-mile Economic Exclusion Zone around Madeira and the Azores by securing a massive majority of votes in the full plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg. However, this victory was subsequently overturned by a qualified majority vote in the Council of Ministers meeting in October 2003.

He then won an overwhelming majority in the EP in support of an emergency 150 million Euro socio-economic aid fund for the devastated whitefish communities.

Struan has presided over new policies for aquaculture and for fishing in the Mediterranean. He has also arranged visits of the Fisheries Committee to Scotland, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Canada, Chile, Mexico and Finland.

More recently he has shown support for a bluefin tuna ban as the species becomes threatened by overfishing and has become very vocal on the future of the Common Fisheries Policy. With the European Parliament’s Green Paper due in early 2010, Struan’s attention is firmly focused on ensuring a radical overhaul of Scotland’s fishing industries.

Struan is also Conservative front-bench spokesman on fisheries in the European Parliament, a position he has held since 2004.