The European Union’s executive Commission warned Taiwan on Thursday for ineffective sanctions on illegal fishing and the Comoros for failing to keep tighter control of its fishing fleet, exposing both countries to possible trade bans.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!However, the Commission lifted warnings against Ghana and Papua New Guinea, saying they had taken steps to meet its concerns over fishing.
Since 2010, the EU – the world’s biggest fish importer – has acted against countries that do not follow international standards to prevent over-fishing, such as policing their waters for unlicensed fishing vessels and imposing penalties to deter illegal fishing.
Taiwan and the Comoros were given a so-called “yellow card” for failings in their fisheries legal framework, ineffective sanctions and lack of effective surveillance over fishing fleets.
The Commission accused the Comoros of failing to monitor the activities of its fishing fleet whose management was partly delegated to an offshore company.
Taiwan and the Comoros have six months to take steps to fix the problems, the Commission said in a statement.
If they fail to do so, their fish exports could be banned in the 28-nation EU. Taiwan’s fisheries exports to the EU amount to 13 million euros ($14.55 million) a year.
Ghana and Papua New Guinea had their yellow cards lifted after strengthening their legal and sanctioning systems and improving their monitoring of fleets.
“Both Ghana and Papua New Guinea have taken ownership of their fisheries reforms and now have robust legal and policy frameworks in place to fight illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing activities,” said Karmenu Vella, EU commissioner for environment and fisheries.
Between 11 and 26 million tonnes of fish are caught illegally a year, the Commission said, representing at least 15 percent of world catches.
“These jurisdictions have overlooked their international obligation to combat illegal fishing, which can have devastating effects on the marine environment and dependant fishing communities,” said Eszter Hidas, EU policy officer at environmental group WWF.
($1 = 0.8937 euros)