Brussels, 21/04/2015 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission decided on Tuesday 21 April to hand Thailand a “yellow card” for not taking sufficient measures in the international fight against illegal fishing (IUU).
Following a thorough analysis and a series of discussions with Thai authorities since 2011, the Commission has condemned the country's shortcomings in its fisheries monitoring, control and sanctioning systems and concludes that Thailand is not doing enough. The Commission discovered breaches of international obligations as a flag state, coastal state, port state and market state.
The Commission has thus started a formal procedure of dialogue with the Thai authorities to make them take the necessary corrective measures. They will be given six months to implement a corrective tailor-made action plan. Should the situation not improve, the EU could resort to banning fisheries imports from Thailand. The European Union (that is, the Council acting on a Commission proposal) has taken trade measures against Cambodia and Guinea, as well as against Belize in March 2014 and Sri Lanka in October 2014. Products made from fish caught by three of these countries are still subject to an import ban in the EU. Belize, however, has pledged to reform its legal system and to adopt new rules, so the trade ban imposed on it last year has been lifted.
Korea and Philippines fall into line. The Commission has acknowledged that two fishing nations, Korea and the Philippines, have carried out appropriate reforms of their legal systems and are now equipped to tackle illegal fishing. It has, therefore, stopped the “identification” procedure that had started with a yellow card to Korea in November 2013 and the Philippines in June 2014.
What is the state of play in other investigations? Ghana and Curaçao, which received formal warnings from the Commission in November 2013, are currently drafting new legislation and making improvements to their monitoring, control and inspection systems. As a consequence, the process of dialogue and cooperation with these countries is continuing. The Commission sent a formal warning to Papua New Guinea in June 2014, then in December 2014 to the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, St Kitts and Nevis and St Vincent and the Grenadines. It monitors the progress being made by each of these countries on a case-by-case basis. The first progress assessment is scheduled within the six months following publication of the relevant Commission decisions.
“Cooperation is always better than sanctions”, commented Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Commissioner Karmenu Vella. “Our EU rigorous policy on a harmful practice such as illegal fishing, together with our genuine capacity to act, is paying off. I urge Thailand to join the European Union in the fight for sustainable fisheries”, he added.
Between 11 and 26 million tonnes of fish, that is, at least 15% of world catches, are caught illegally every year. This is worth between €8 and €19 billion. As the world's biggest fish importer, the EU does not wish to be complicit and accept such products into its market. The so-called IUU Regulation, which entered into force in 2010, allows access onto the EU market only to fisheries products that have been certified as legal by the flag state concerned. When flag states are unable to certify their products, the Commission starts a process of cooperation and assistance with them to help improve their legal frameworks. The milestones of this process are warnings (yellow cards), green cards if issues are solved and red cards if they are not - the latter leading to a trade ban. (Lionel Changeur)