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Joe Borg |
THE European Commission has welcomed the new port state control scheme that was adopted earlier today by the North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC) to tackle illegal fishing activities.
The measures, which will become applicable from May 1 2007, will require the green light from the flag state to the port state before foreign fishing vessels will be authorised to land frozen fish products in the ports of the Contracting Parties to NEAFC.
The agreed measures also include new obligations and benchmarks as regards inspections to be carried out by the port state.
According to the Commission, this is a very important development in combating illegal catches of fish that are more difficult to detect, particularly when the fish is landed frozen, as is often the case with cod from the Barents Sea.
Welcoming this agreement, Joe Borg, European Commissioner for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs, said: “This is a most welcome breakthrough in tackling the illegal fishing activities in the north Atlantic. The decision taken by NEAFC also strengthens the developments recently observed in the North-West Fisheries Organisation and the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Living Marine Resources in taking decisive measures to eliminate illegal fishing. These regional fisheries management organisations are the best instruments to achieve effective governance on the high seas.”
Pointing out that the EU had played a leading role in the introduction of this very first port state control scheme, Commissioner Borg also welcomed the positive attitude of the NEAFC partners, in particular the Russian Federation.
Today’s decision on adopting a comprehensive port state control scheme was taken unanimously. From May 1 2007, prior notification of landings of frozen fish by foreign fishing vessels will have to include a declaration by the master of the vessels concerned of the catch on board. Before the landings can be authorised by the port state, the flag state must exercise its responsibility by verifying the information provided in the declaration. This means that the flag state must confirm, firstly, that the fishing vessel had sufficient quota and, secondly, that the catch had been taken into account in the national monitoring quota uptake regime.
The flag state must also confirm that the vessel was authorised to fish and that the area of catch, declared by the vessel, has been verified through the records received via the satellite-based vessel monitoring system, known as VMS. Without such confirmation no authorisation can be given by the port state and without authorisation no landings can occur. The control measures also include new obligations and benchmarks which the port state must implement in its inspections of these vessels.
*The European Union again called for an effective package of measures to tackle the impact of destructive fishing practices on the high seas at the UN General Assembly debate on sustainable fisheries which resumed today in New York. The Member States of the EU have given their unanimous support to the position that will be advanced by the European Commission on their behalf. Based on the conviction that Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs) are key to the effective governance of high seas fisheries, the Commission proposes a radical overhaul to the regulatory approach by both RFMOs and States. Today, says the EU, any activity that is not regulated is implicitly permitted. In the future, fishing with bottom gears that may have adverse impacts on vulnerable ecosystems would need to be assessed before it is authorised. This far-reaching change in the way in which fishing activities with potential destructive effects are regulated would represent a decisive step forward in ensuring both better fisheries governance and effective environmental protection.
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