The European Fisheries Control Agency, which is based in Vigo, Spain, gave a warm welcome on Wednesday 27 September to the fine results achieved by a pilot project on fisheries control in the Mediterranean (see EUROPE 11870).
The agency coordinated the pilot project, designed, it says, to improve compliance with the adopted conservation measures for hake and deep water rose shrimp in the Strait of Sicily, which lies in the Mediterranean between Sicily and Tunisia.
The pilot follows on from a recommendation of the 2016 General Fisheries Council for the Mediterranean (GFCM).
The pilot project also represents the first tangible result in terms of the commitment made at the Medfish4ever ministerial declaration. Ministers pledged to eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in the area and to support the GFCM in the development of control systems and, where appropriate, joint schemes of international inspection. In the Mediterranean, 90% of assessed stocks are over-exploited, the Fisheries Control Agency points out. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)