Source: FishNewsEU
New rules to crackdown on pirate fishing activities around the world which entered into force on 1st January have been welcomed by environmental group WWF.
If implemented properly, WWF believes that the new regulations will help protect the world’s oceans by speeding-up the demise of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing - a global trade estimated to be worth between $10bn and $23.5bn per year.
Under the new EU Regulation, all fish imports into the EU will be banned unless the importing company can show the fish comes from non-IUU sources through robust traceability systems. Furthermore, fisheries in countries with IUU fishing problem will face restrictions and be entered on a blacklist.
The new regulations mark a major success for WWF and others who have been working globally for many years to eliminate illegal fishing activities.
WWF Scotland Director, Dr Richard Dixon, said: Pirate fishing is a serious global problem and is having a devastating impact on the marine environment.
Often a professionally organized criminal activity, illegal fishing is a major contributor to the depletion of global fish stocks and undermines action designed to help stocks recover and protect other marine wildlife.
Illegal fishing also represents a major loss of revenue, particularly to some of the poorest countries in the world where dependency on fisheries for food and livelihoods is high.
“Thanks to this crackdown, consumers can have greater confidence they are not unwittingly supporting illegal fishing and the destruction of the world’s oceans. As the largest market for fish in the world it is right that Europe takes a lead in this area. These new rules should also lead to greater protection for much more than just fish, since many non-target animals such as dolphins, turtles and sea birds are also caught and killed by illegal fishing operations.â€
ILLEGAL FISHING - SOME FACTS AND FIGURES
. The total value of current IUU fishing losses worldwide is estimated to be between $10bn and $23.5bn annually - representing between 11 and 26 million tons.
. IUU fishing practices amount to approximately 10 billion Euros a year worldwide - making IUU fishing the second largest producer of fishery products in the world.
. Species at risk from illegal fishing include: bluefin tuna (East Atlantic and Mediterranean), bigeye tuna (Pacific) the Patagonian toothfish/Chilean sea bass (Southern Ocean), Atlantic cod and Alaskan pollack (Arctic) and abalone (South Africa).
. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) illegal fishing can represent up to 30 per cent of total catches in certain major fisheries.
. Hundreds of thousands of dolphins and porpoises die from entanglement in illegal fishing nets each year. Hundreds of thousands more turtles, sharks and seabirds are caught on illegal longlines set for tuna and other fish.
. The EC is the largest importer of fishery products in the world. (In 2007, the EC imported nearly 16 billion Euros of fisheries products. Imports derived from IUU catches have been conservatively estimated at 1.1 billion Euros in 2005.
. Thanks to action taken of WWF the level of IUU fishing of Barents cod in the Barents Sea is estimated to have dropped by 50 per cent since 2005. (One factor behind this success was strong pressure from the UK's whitefish buying sector, which pushed the European Fish Producers Association to develop a voluntary protocol to exclude IUU-caught Barents cod from the supply chain.)
. More than 75% of the world's fisheries are already fully exploited or overfished, and as many as 90% of all the ocean's large fish have been fished out. Illegal fishing undermines efforts designed to help stocks recover.