The fight against illegal fishing would be more effective if there were a European approach, including import controls and the digitalisation of ‘pirate’ catches, according to members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Fisheries on Thursday 7 December.
Unanimously adopting the draft report by Nuno Melo (EPP, Portuguese) on this issue (24 votes in favour), MEPs believe that potential loopholes could be avoided if all EU countries had identical procedures for applying the rules against IUU fishing.
MEPs encourage the European Commission to harmonise import controls in EU countries to deter IUU fishing products from entering the EU market and believe that the digitalisation of IUU catches (CATCH IT system) will reduce fraudulent imports.
The Committee on Fisheries is calling for the creation of a whistleblower protection programme to encourage people with knowledge of IUU fishing activities to share important information.
The Commission is called upon to take action to put an end to the use of flags of convenience and to evaluate all Chinese actions aimed at reducing IUU fishing.
MEPs believe that the EU should not grant preferential market access to countries associated with IUU fishing practices and which use forced labour.
Link to the compromise amendments voted: https://aeur.eu/f/a1p (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)