EC warns Philippines and Papua New Guinea over insufficient action to fight illegal fishing
11 Jun 2014 11:46 AM
The European Commission
continues its action to fight illegal fishing worldwide by warning the
Philippines and Papua New Guinea that they risk being identified as countries
it considers non-cooperative in the fight against illegal, unreported and
unregulated (IUU) fishing.
Yesterday's decision
highlights that these countries are not doing enough to fight illegal fishing.
It identifies concrete shortcomings, such as lack of system of sanctions to
deter IUU activities or lack of actions to address deficiencies in monitoring,
controlling and surveillance of fisheries.
The decision does not, at this
stage, entail any measures affecting trade. Both countries are being given a
'yellow card' warning and a reasonable time to respond and take
measures to rectify the situation. The Commission has also proposed an action
plan for each country to address the shortcomings. Should the situation not
improve within six months, the EU could take further steps, which could entail
trade sanctions on fisheries imports, as was done recently with Guinea, Belize
and Cambodia (IP/14/304).
European Commissioner for
Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Maria Damanaki, said: "If half of
the Western Pacific's tuna is exported to the EU, we cannot ignore illegal
fishing activities in this region. I urge the Philippines and Papua New Guinea
to fight this practice which puts the livelihoods of fishermen at risk. In the
end, sustainability of fisheries in the Pacific Ocean means sustainability here
in Europe, on our plates.”
The Commission considers that
the Philippines and Papua New Guinea do not currently fulfil their duties as
flag, coastal, port or market State in line with international law. For
instance, the countries need to amend their legal framework to combat IUU
fishing, improve control and monitoring actions and take a proactive role in
complying with international law rules, such as the ones agreed by Regional
Fisheries Management Organisations.
The decision is a result of a
thorough analysis and also takes into account each country's level of
development. The decision follows a long period of informal discussions with
the countries in question since 2012. A formal procedure of dialogue with these
countries to resolve the identified issues and implement the necessary action
plans will now take place.
Background
The fight against illegal
fishing is part of the EU drive to ensure the sustainable use of the sea and
its resources. As the world's biggest fish importer, the EU aims at closing
its markets to illegally caught fish. IUU fishing is a criminal activity which
undermines the livelihood of fishing communities and depletes fish stocks. With
these actions vis-à-vis third countries, the EU ensures a systematic
approach in favour of the sustainability of fishing activities at both EU and
global level, in coherence with the recent adoption of the EU's new Common
Fisheries Policy.
Yesterday's Decision is
based on the EU's 'IUU Regulation', which entered into force in
20101. This key instrument in the
fight against illegal fishing aims at allowing access to the EU market only to
fisheries products that have been certified as legal by the flag State
concerned.
In March, upon proposal of the
Commission the Council of Ministers adopted trade measures against Belize,
Cambodia and Guinea for their lack of commitment to tackling the problem of
illegal fishing (IP/14/304). Fisheries products caught by vessels from these
countries are banned from being imported into the EU.
Besides the Philippines and
Papua New Guinea and the three countries who are subject to the trade ban,
eight other third countries have already received formal warnings under the
‘IUU Regulation’: Fiji, Panama, Sri Lanka, Togo and Vanuatu, in
2012 (IP/12/1215), and Ghana, Curaçao and South
Korea, in 2013 (IP/13/1162). Most of these countries have cooperated constructively
with the Commission making significant progress in their fisheries management
systems in order to curb illegal fishing. They have developed new legislation
and improved their monitoring, control and inspection systems.
The estimated global value of
IUU fishing is approximately 10 billion euros per year, and it is said to
account for 19% of the reported value of catches. Between 11 and 26
million tonnes of fish are caught illegally a year, which corresponds to at
least 15% of world catches.
For further
information
MEMO/14/408
STATEMENT/14/187
Press Conference by Maria
Damanaki:
http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/damanaki/headlines/speeches/2014
/06/2014061003_speech_en.htm
Website on the EU rules to
combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing:
http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/cfp/illegal_fishing/index_en.htm