Brussels, 29/09/2011 (Agence Europe) - If Italy fails to observe a Court of Justice ruling on the long-running issue of the use of drift nets to catch tuna and swordfish, it could face financial penalties. On Thursday 29 September, the European Commission called on Italy to take measures to comply with the Court ruling of October 2009 to end the illegal use of drift nets. “If no satisfactory action is taken within two months from the receipt of the Commission's letter, the Commission may refer this case to the Court of Justice again, this time asking the Court to impose significant financial penalties on Italy in accordance with the Treaty rules”, the Commission states in press release.
Fishing with drift-nets ruins marine habitats, endangers marine wildlife and threatens sustainable fisheries. Despite persistent calls on Italy to fulfil its monitoring and enforcement duties adequately with regard to illegal drift-nets, recent on-site inspections have failed to show any significant improvement on the situation before the Court's judgement. Commission monitoring indicates that drift-nets are still used illegally in Italy in large numbers, and that measures taken by national authorities are neither sufficient, nor effective enough to deter their use.
It was in 1992 that the Commission banned the use of drift nets of over 2.5 kilometres in length (in response to a 1991 UN General Assembly moratorium on large pelagic drift-nets). A complete ban on the use of drift nets, no matter their length, has been in place in the EU since January 2002. (LC/transl.rt)