The EU and its Member States have taken steps to stop illegal fishing, but they are not as effective as they should be, according to a special report by the European Court of Auditors published on Monday 26 September.
The auditors recommend that the European Commission verify that Member States strengthen their control systems to prevent the import of illegal fisheries products and that they apply dissuasive sanctions against this practice, in EU waters and beyond.
“For me, it is clear that we need to ‘tighten the net’ to end illegal fishing”, Eva Lindström, member of the Court of Auditors and author of the report in question, summarised to the press.
The Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (IUU) Regulation (dealing mainly with imports) and the Fisheries Control Regulation (compliance by EU fishermen) are the main regulatory instruments adopted to combat illegal fishing.
Catch certification. The report shows that, overall, Member States reported having carried out basic or more detailed checks on around 64% of the catch certificates they received. Five Member States (Germany, Lithuania, Malta, Portugal and Sweden) reported only basic checks, while four others (Belgium, Finland, Italy and Romania) did not provide any information. Four Member States (Hungary, Romania, Sweden and Slovakia) did not request any additional information from third countries between 2016 and 2019.
“Our analysis of the control systems for imported products in Denmark, Spain, France and Sweden confirmed that the extent and quality of controls varied considerably between Member States, as did the sophistication of the IT systems”, the report said.
Card systems. According to the auditors, the EU’s system of issuing (yellow and red) cards (to third countries that engage in illegal fishing) has proved useful, “but it is not infallible and often gets countries whose fish trade with the EU is minimal” regrets the Court of Auditors.
“So far, the Commission has issued yellow cards to 21 third countries and a red card to six. In most cases, the card was lifted after reforms in the countries concerned”, explained Eva Lindström.
Controls by Member States. The report shows that the Commission has identified “significant weaknesses” in national control systems and has begun to address them.
The Commission’s work has highlighted problems in the Member States where it has carried out audits of the control of the weighing, recording and traceability of catches (Denmark, Ireland, Belgium and the Netherlands). These shortcomings lead to overfishing and underreporting of catches, says the Court of Auditors.
Between 2015 and 2020, the Commission opened 34 informal cases on its online problem-solving platform ‘EU Pilot’ to address, together with the Member States, the weaknesses identified. It also developed 16 action plans with Member States to address shortcomings in control systems.
Between 2015 and 2021, the Commission launched 11 infringement procedures (legal actions) against eight Member States for failures to effectively enforce the landing obligation, to monitor their fisheries or external fleets, to apply an effective system of sanctions for serious infringements or to control catch registration and weighing systems.
As regards penalties, the Court of Auditors confirms the considerable differences between the fines provided for in national legislation, with maximum amounts ranging from €1,624 in Romania to €600,000 in Spain for administrative penalties and from €10,224 in Bulgaria to €16 million in Estonia for criminal penalties. In practice, the average fine imposed for the same type of infringement ranged from around €200 (Cyprus, Lithuania and Estonia) to over €7,000 (Spain).
“In some cases, the level of penalties calls into question their proportionality and deterrent effect”, Ms Lindström concluded. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)