Many loose-ends still to be tied up, FISH Staffer Christian Tsangarides reports from Chatham House conference in London on illegal-unreported-unregulated fishing.
“The 5th International Forum on Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing, hosted by Chatham House in London, has seen much discussion of the new EU rules governing the regulation of IUU fishing that will come into place on the 1st January 2010.
With less than three months until legislation comes into force many loose-ends have yet to be tied up. Problems identified by Cliff Morrison of the EU Fish Processors Association are that “the Implementing Regulations are still in draft, guidance notes on the regulations are awaited, many third countries are still to submit their competent authorities to DG Mare, and it is still not clear who the competent authorities will be across all EU Member States.”
While the conception of new regulations that are designed to combat the scourge of IUU fishing has been universally supported at the conference, the creation of significant new burdens on exporters has been sharply criticised. Roy Bross of the South African Deep-Sea Trawling Industry Association blasted the EU for introducing considerable administrative costs, particularly in relation to catch certificates. He estimated that within South Africa, one certificate confirming the catch submitted by the master of a vessel will have to validated every four minutes, a burden which the port authorities would be unable cope with.
There are now less than fifty working days until the new rules come into play, and only 36 third countries have their export licences in order. It is expected that 120 nations will be exporting to the EU, so a significant backlog remains. However, concerns were voiced that within many third countries there exists a lack of understanding of the new regulations by government officials and inspectors as well as a lack of capacity to enforce these measures. Presentations by representatives of the Commission have been conspicuous by their absence, something that has not gone unnoticed by attendees.”
Christian Tsangarides