Last week something really new happened. Thanks to an unprecedented cooperation between the European Commission and Spanish authorities, these have seized 500 tonnes of fish probably caught illegally off West Africa, which were being landed in Las Palmas by a refrigeration vessel, owned by a South Korean company and flagged to Panama.

The block on catches of octopus, squid, sole, shrimp and grouper represents the biggest action against the landing of illegally caught fish since the EU regulation against illegal fishing became operational.

The European Commission is at the forefront in the fight against pirate fishing, which hampers the sustainability of fish stocks and goes hand-in-hand with criminality on a wider scale. It affects greatly African countries. For example Sierra Leone, where one can estimate loses up to 20 million euro a year from illegal fishing.

We have the duty to make everything possible to stop this disaster. EU rules provide a number of tools. The vessel that is currently investigated in Spain could be totally frozen out of trade with the EU. We are currently setting up a list of illegal vessels and will identify offending countries. We are presently reviewing more than 70 vessels from 11 third countries as well as 5 Member States.

Our commitment at global level goes with new rules for controlling EU fisheries: if irresponsible fishermen are found breaking the law, they will face the same sanction wherever they are and whatever their nationality. And if they are repeatedly caught fishing illegally, thanks to a new point system, they will end up losing their licence. Our new system ensures traceability “from net to plate”: at any point in the market chain, authorities can now spot wrong-doings and trace them back to the culprit.

My commitment is to make European fisheries responsible and sustainable in practice, not just in intention. I have the responsibility to build a new culture of compliance. That is the basis of the radical reform of the Common Fisheries Policy that I will present later this year.

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Tags: CFP, control, fishing, IUU, sustainability