The European Parliament’s Committee on Fisheries recommended, on Wednesday 20 September, a series of measures to avoid the negative effects of illegal catches by Chinese vessels.
In unanimously adopting the draft own initiative report by Pierre Karleskind (Renew Europe, French) on the implications of Chinese fishing activities on EU fisheries, the European Parliament’s Committee on Fisheries noted that there are currently four third countries with a ‘red card’ and eight third countries with a ‘yellow card’ under the EU regulation against Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing (IUU) but that China has never been the subject of a procedure under this text, “despite considerable evidence of this country’s significant and growing involvement in illegal fishing”.
MEPs adopted 19 compromise amendments.
They deplore the lack of transparency on the part of the Chinese authorities regarding the number of vessels making up its distant-water fleet. Various estimates of the size of China’s distant-water fleet range from 2,900 to 16,966 vessels. MEPs note that the total Chinese fishing fleet numbers up to 564,000 vessels, according to the FAO. They call on the European Commission to take steps to end the use of flags of convenience and to improve its system for identifying vessels engaged in IUU so that a vessel’s country of origin can be identified, even if the flag state is unclear, and that vessels on which human rights violations have been detected are also included.
The Commission is also invited to launch a catch identification scheme in cooperation with China on the basis of the recommendations contained in the FAO’s Voluntary Guidelines for Catch Documentation Schemes.
MEPs propose as well that EU countries apply European legislation on traceability and catch reporting more effectively, provide information on products caught by Chinese vessels entering the EU market and harmonise customs and port controls on imported products.
Protecting fish stocks. Deploring the lack of transparency and reliable data on China’s distant-water fleet, catches, subsidies and agreements with third countries, MEPs point out that Chinese fishing operations are depleting natural resources, even weakening the positive results to which the EU fleet has contributed in terms of stock recovery.
MEPs are concerned about the numerous reports from governments and NGOs of IUU fishing by vessels flying a Chinese flag, and alleged IUU fishing by stateless vessels that could be the responsibility of the Chinese authorities and Chinese-owned vessels flying the flag of a third country. These illegal practices include fishing without a licence, fishing for protected species, fishing with prohibited gear, shark finning, failing to declare catches and disabling the automatic identification systems used for tracking.
Deeply concerned by reports of inhumane working conditions on board Chinese vessels, MEPs are calling on the EU to step up its cooperation with the UK, US, Japan and other countries to urge China to make progress in this area as well as tackling IUU fishing.
The draft report on China will be debated and adopted at a forthcoming plenary session.
Link to the compromise amendments: https://aeur.eu/f/8ns (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)