07/05/2019 (Agence Europe) – Karmenu Vella, the European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, presented on Tuesday 7 May in Brussels the first EU IT tool, called ‘CATCH’, designed to simplify the controls of seafood products entering the EU market. Through this initiative, the EU will strengthen the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. The ‘CATCH’ system allows the current certification scheme to be digitised on paper. CATCH will support Member States in their verification tasks related to IUU fishing, help reduce the risk of fraud, facilitate trade flows and reduce the burden on operators and administrations. (LC)