In a report published on Monday 5 February, the NGOs Oceana, Pew, WWF and the Environmental Justice Foundation call on the European Commission to harmonise implementation of European policy regarding unlawful, undeclared and uncontrolled fishing in order to put an end to the disparities that exist in the application of import controls at national level, which are detrimental to the objectives of the regulation.
Ten years after coming into application, the regulation (1005/2008) - which is based on a system of yellow and red cards given to third countries that do not apply European provisions regarding unlawful fishing, and a provision for catch certification – has made it possible to reduce the volume of illegal fishing product imports which were estimated at around 500,000 tonnes annually (i.e. €1.1 billion) before 2008.
Currently, fishing products from Cambodia, the Comoros (see EUROPE 11874) and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (see EUROPE 11827) are banned from importation into the EU.
This system, however, has not allowed such imports to be definitively halted, the NGOs say, which had looked at the impact of the European regulation on trade flows of sea products.
Problems highlighted include the entry into Italy of tuna from countries subject to a yellow card, as well as the entry to Spain via Portugal of swordfish potentially from unlawful fishing, and the increase in imports to the Netherlands of prepared tuna or tuna preserves from Thailand after the latter had received a yellow card. Imports to other member states, such as Germany and Spain, have decreased.
Such re-routing of products makes it necessary to have harmonised and effective implementation of import controls at national level, the associations say. The latter also call on the European Commission to: - ensure improved and harmonised implementation of the catch certificate system by developing Community risk management methodology, which should be integrated as a tool into the future EU IT system; - and provide clear guidelines to member states regarding control procedures.
See report: http://bit.ly/2BPPF0H (Original version in French)