‘Let them use their nets’

AMATEUR fishermen are up in arms over a new ban on the use of nets, after Cyprus brought leisure fishing laws into line with those of the EU.

The matter was discussed at the House Agriculture Committee, where all deputies agreed that the change in legislation would do more harm than good.

“On January 29, 2007, the use of nets by amateur fishermen was prohibited by law,” Committee Chairman Yiannakis Thoma of AKEL said yesterday.

“But amateur fishing is a tradition in Cyprus and apart from that, it is keeping thousands of young people at a distance from bad habits,” he went on.

Thoma said the Committee had asked the Agriculture Ministry to prepare a bill, which would allow amateur fishermen to net-fish but would also be in accordance to the European Directive.

“We have given clear orders to the Agriculture Ministry to attend next week’s committee meeting after examining the possibility of requesting an exception in this European law; maybe by explaining how amateur fishing has been a tradition in Cyprus for as long as the Republic has existed.”

He added, “On our part, we will examine ways in which our law can be amended in a way that wouldn’t violate the European Directive.”

But until then, Thoma warned amateur fishermen that the European regulation was an existing law and that anyone using nets would face prosecution.

Takis Evangelou, a spokesman for the Pancyprian Association for Amateur Fishermen, expressed his satisfaction at the “enormous understanding” shown by Parliament to the issue.

“Over the past few years, we have gathered more and more young people to our pastime.

This draws young people away from drugs and gambling,” Evangelou reasoned.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.