The European Commission on 5 January identified Cameroon as a non-cooperating country in the fight against Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing, giving it a so-called red card’. From now on EU Member States shall refuse the importation of fishery products from Cameroon even when accompanied by catch certificates validated by the national authorities.
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On IUU fishing in general
What is IUU fishing?
IUU stands for illegal, unreported or unregulated fishing as defined in the 2001 FAO International Plan of Action to fight IUU fishing.
The European IUU legislation applies to all fishing vessels, under any flag, in all maritime waters.
A fishing vessel is notably presumed to be engaged in IUU fishing activities, if it is shown to carry out activities in contravention with the conservation and management measures applicable in the area concerned. This includes, inter alia, fishing without a valid licence, in a closed area, beyond a closed depth or during a closed season, or by using prohibited gear, as well as the failure to fulfil reporting obligations, falsifying its identity, or obstructing the work of inspectors.
Why is the European Commission committed to fighting IUU fishing?
IUU fishing is one of the most serious threats to the sustainable exploitation of the living aquatic resources. It jeopardises the foundation of the European Union’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) and the EU’s efforts at international level to promote better ocean governance. IUU fishing also represents a major hazard to the marine environment, the sustainability of fish stocks and marine biodiversity. IUU furthermore results in unfair competition for those fishermen and women who abide by the rules.
Fighting IUU fishing is part of the EU’s actions under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development of the United Nations. It is the EU’s contribution to the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) n°14 to end IUU fishing and to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, sea and marine resources. The zero-tolerance approach to IUU fishing pursued by the Commission is also an integral part of the European Green Deal and the Biodiversity Strategy 2030.
What is the policy of the EU to fight illegal fishing?
The EU is the world’s largest import market for fisheries products and as such bears the responsibility to ensure that products stemming from IUU fishing activities do not access the EU single market. EU Member States are also important flag and port States.
The EU Regulation to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU Regulation) entered into force on 1 January 2010. It applies to trade of marine fishery products with the EU. It aims to make sure that only legally caught fisheries products reach the EU market.
To achieve this, the Regulation establishes a catch certification scheme, which requires flag States to certify that fish caught by their vessels and imported to the EU do not stem from illegal fishing activities. The system aims to ensure that countries’ vessels comply with national and regional conservation and management rules as well as with internationally agreed rules.
How does the EU ensure that third countries exporting their fishery products to the EU comply with their international obligations?
So far, 93 third countries have notified the Commission that they have in place the necessary legal instruments, the dedicated procedures, and the appropriate administrative structures for the certification of the catches by vessels flying their flag.
The Commission cooperates with a number of third countries and carries out evaluation missions to assess their compliance with the international obligations in the fight against illegal, unreported or unregulated fishing. Moreover, the Commission establishes IUU dialogues with third countries in view of supporting them in strengthening national policies to eliminate IUU fishing. Since November 2012, the Commission has been in dialogues with more than 60 countries, which have been warned of the need to take strong action to fight IUU fishing. In most cases, significant progress was observed and therefore the Commission could satisfactorily close the formal dialogue phase and lift the yellow card. Only a few countries have not shown the necessary commitment to reforms until now.
The Commission puts emphasis on cooperation to solve problems but there are third countries where the situation is still problematic even after years of informal cooperation. In those cases, the Commission can resort to the different actions established by in EU IUU Regulation vis-a-vis non-cooperating third countries in fighting IUU fishing.
Concretely, when the Commission has evidence that a third country does not cooperate fully in the fight against IUU fishing, it will issue a so-called ‘yellow card’. With this first step of the process, called pre-identification, the EC warns the country of the risk of being identified as a non-cooperating country. The yellow card starts a formal dialogue in which the Commission and the country work together to solve all issues of concern. In most cases, this dialogue is productive and the pre-identification can be removed (green card).
If however, progress is not sufficient, the Commission will identify the third country as non-cooperating. This is called a ‘red card’. The Commission will then propose to the Council to add this country to the list of non-cooperating countries. Fisheries products from the country in question will hereafter be banned from the EU market.
At every step of the process (yellow/red card or listing), the third country can prove that the situation has been rectified. It will then be delisted (green card).
An overview of the process can be found in this infographic.
How many countries currently have a red card?
Out of the 27 procedures that have been initiated since 2012, seven have resulted in a red card. Four of the countries concerned have failed until now to take sufficient remedial measures.
A full overview of all past and ongoing procedures can be found here.
On IUU fishing and Cameroon
Why has the Commission decided to identify Cameroon as a non-cooperating third country in the fight against IUU fishing (red card)?
The Commission’s decision to identify Cameroon as a non-cooperating third country in the fight against IUU fishing is based on the persistence of serious shortcomings identified in the pre-identification Decision (yellow card).
These shortcomings can be summarised as follows:
- The registration procedure has not been reviewed and an additional IUU listed vessel has been registered in Cameroon and entitled to fly its flag since the pre-identification Decision.
- Cameroon continues registering fishing vessels under its flag without demonstrating its ability to effectively control and monitor their fishing activities, particularly when operating outside waters of Cameroon.
- Cameroon has not ensured sufficient cooperation with the Commission in the fight against IUU fishing, and did not provide adequate and timely replies to queries from the Commission.
What happens next?
This Decision does not end the cooperation. The dialogue with the Cameroon authorities continues and the Commission remains ready to help Cameroon in addressing the identified shortcomings.
The red card implies that Cameroon will no longer be able to export its fishery products to the EU. Currently Cameroon does not export fishery products to the EU as it has not fulfilled the necessary sanitary standards required for export to the EU.
In addition, other measures are foreseen under the IUU Regulation in case of listing by the Council of the EU of countries as non-cooperating in the fight against IUU fishing, such as prohibition for EU operators to:
- purchase fishing vessels flying the flag of Cameroon;
- carry out joint fishing operations with fishing vessels flying the flag of Cameroon; and
- enter into agreements, reflagging of vessels or any private trade arrangements to use the fishing possibilities of Cameroon.
Source: European Commission
