Governments Set Nets for Illegal Fishers

Governments Set Nets for Illegal Fishers



March 2007 - Illegal fishers beware - 
131 governments agreed Friday to create a legally binding 
accord establishing control measures in ports where fish is 
landed, transhipped or processed in order to combat illegal, 
unreported or unregulated fishing. 
Fishing without permission, catching protected species, using 
outlawed types of gear or disregarding catch quotas are among 
the most common fishing offenses. 
The decision came during the 27th meeting of the Committee on 
Fisheries of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO, 
attended all last week in Rome by 131 governments and the 
European Commission. 
"FAO can count on our full cooperation and support in this 
area," said EU Commissioner Joe Borg, responsible for 
Fisheries and Maritime Affairs. 
Illegal fishing vessel off the coast of The Gambia, West 
Africa 
Additional consultations will be held in 2007 and 2008 to 
generate a draft version of the agreement, which will then be 
presented to the Committee on Fisheries for final approval at 
the body's next meeting in 2009. 
The proposed agreement will be based on an existing voluntary 
FAO model outline of recommended "port state" control 
measures. 
Port state controls include measures such as running 
background checks on boats prior to granting docking 
privileges and undertaking inspections in port to check 
documentation, cargos and equipment. 
The control measures include training inspectors to increase 
their effectiveness and improving international 
information-sharing about vessels with a history of IUU 
activity in order to help authorities turn away repeat 
offenders. 
"The proposals on port state control are critical to the fight 
against IUU, and something which the EU has been calling for 
since the adoption of its 2002 IUU Action Plan," said 
Commissioner Borg. "I am also pleased that we now have a 
timetable for action to limit the destructive impact of deep 
sea fisheries." 
IUU fishing undermines good management of world fisheries and 
costs governments money due to lost fishing revenue and funds 
spent combating it. 
It has negative impacts on fish populations, including those 
upon which poor fishers depend. 
In addition to delegations from FAO members governments, 41 
intergovernmental organizations and 29 nongovernmental 
organizations also participated in the FAO Fisheries 
Committee. 
In tandem with the meeting, Greenpeace has launched the first 
public global database of blacklisted, illegal fishing 
vessels. 
Greenpeace says the database is a bid to tackle the huge 
problem of IUU pirate fishing, "a $9 billion rogue industry" 
which is having a devastating effect on fish stocks and 
biodiversity in some of the most ecologically important areas 
of the world’s oceans. 
Greenpeace estimates that sub-Saharan Africa loses US$1 
billion dollars every year due to the activities of these IUU 
fleets. 
“The measures necessary to eradicate the problem of the 
illegal fishing are known. They are necessary coordinated 
operations at all the levels, from the network in the water to 
the cases of the supermarkets," Sebastian Losada of Greenpeace 
Spain said in Rome. 
Greenpeace activists hand over an illegal gillnet to a Polish 
fisheries inspector and the owners of the net onboard the 
fishing Vessel Kol-79. 
"The international cooperation, measures of forced fulfillment 
for the control in the ports, as well as a global registry of 
fishing ships and a regime of sanctions adapted, are between 
the tools that the governments need to start up. This way, we 
will be able to fight fleets that are literally robbing the 
food of some of the poorest communities in the planet and 
destroying our marine ecosystems." 
Greenpeace compiled the database from existing official 
registries of IUU vessels and companies. Industrial fishing 
vessels and fishery support vessels, including motherships, 
refrigerated carriers and supply vessels, may be included on 
the database. 
The database offers convenient search functions for national 
fisheries administrators to quickly check on the compliance 
status of foreign vessels trying to unload their catch in 
port, seeking services in port, seeking a fishing license or 
seeking to register or flag a vessel. 
Retailers and suppliers can use the database to ensure the 
fish they source do not come from pirate fishing vessels or 
from companies involved in such activities. 
An NGO umbrella group, the Coalition for Fair Fisheries 
Arrangements, which includes Greenpeace Spain, the Catholic 
Committee against Hunger and for Development, and the 
International Collective in Support of Fishworkers, issued a 
paper that identifies the "port of convenience," Las Palmas de 
Gran Canaria of Spain as a gateway for illegally caught fish 
to enter the EU market. 
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria also provides IUU vessels operating 
in the region with essential services and hosts a number of 
companies behind these operations, the Coalition alleges. 
"The problems in Las Palmas are well known to relevant 
authorities but, so far, little has been done to take 
corrective action, despite the fact that both the Spanish 
authorities and the European Commission have repeatedly 
declared their commitment to fight IUU fishing, including 
through port control measures," the Coalition paper states. 
Other issues discussed during last week's meeting included 
responsible fish trade; sustainable growth of the aquaculture 
sector; illness and poverty affecting fishing communities; the 
implementation of the ecosystem approach to fisheries; and the 
strengthening of regional fisheries management organizations 
and regional fishery bodies. 
Over the next two years, the Committee on Fisheries asked the 
FAO to draft technical guidelines on recommended best 
practices in deep sea fisheries. 
The FAO was also asked to produce guidelines on the use of 
marine protected areas for better fisheries management, 
conserving marine biodiversity and improving fisheries 
production. 
The Committee on Fisheries asked also that the FAO conduct a 
comprehensive study on the probable impacts of climate change 
on fisheries in order to begin evaluating necessary management 
and policy responses. 
Plans are in the works to convene an international conference 
focusing on problems and needs specific to small scale 
fisheries, which employ an estimated 34 million people in the 
developing world. 





 

---