Brussels, 14/10/2014 (Agence Europe) - As part of its efforts to combat illegal fishing across the globe, the European Commission decided on Tuesday 14 October to ban imports of fisheries products from Sri Lanka (see EUROPE 11128 and 11045).
The decision was taken after four years of intensive dialogue with Sri Lanka. The country has not, however, been able to demonstrate that it was properly addressing the issue of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Among the main weaknesses uncovered were shortcomings in implementation of control measures, the lack of dissuasive sanctions against the high seas fleet and failure to respect international and regional fisheries rules. As a result, the Commission is proposing a ban on the import into the EU of fish caught by Sri Lankan vessels. In order not to disrupt current commercial contracts, the trade measures will not come into force in their entirety until mid-January 2015, three months after publication of the decision in the Official Journal of the EU.
Sri Lanka is the second largest exporter of fresh and chilled swordfish and tuna to the EU (€74 million in exports in 2013).
Five green lights
Elsewhere, the Commission confirmed that Belize, Fiji, Panama, Togo and Vanuatu, which had received warnings at the same time as Sri Lanka, had taken the necessary steps to control and appropriately penalise illegal fishing. Thus, the Commission proposes to remove the trade measures put in place against Belize in March 2014.
The Commission will extend cooperation with Korea, Curacao and Ghana until January. Despite some progress being made by these countries, which received formal warnings in November 2013, further time is needed to carry out changes. (LC)