Welcome   Sponsored By
Subscribe | Register | Advertise | Newsletter | About us | Contact us
   


Representatives of the EU, African artisanal fisheries, NGOs and research institutes will discuss these issues at a Brussels panel debate today

Unclear EU fishing deals compromise local food security and sustainable seafood

EUROPEAN UNION
Friday, November 15, 2019, 04:00 (GMT + 9)

A lack of accountability and transparency around EU fishing activities outside EU waters is contributing to overfishing and endangering local food supply, two new WWF reports reveal. This, in turn, clouds the sustainability of the seafood products sold and consumed in the EU.

WWF’s research shows that the EU’s fishing agreements with non-EU countries - ‘sustainable fisheries partnership agreements’ (SFPAs) - do not always contribute to sustainable fishing. For example, EU fleets sometimes fail to accurately report catches, making it difficult to determine fair fishing quotas and furthering risks of overfishing. In addition, the current EU negotiation process for SFPAs doesn’t require any assurance that partner countries have consulted those whose livelihoods or food supplies depend on the same fishery resources, nor does it require transparency on how EU funds tied to these Agreements will support local sustainable fisheries management systems.

The EU currently has eight SFPAs in Western Africa and three in the South West Indian Ocean.

In Central and West Africa alone, around 400 million people rely on marine fisheries for their food security and livelihoods; globally, West Africa is the area most vulnerable to illegal fishing activities with an estimated one in four fish caught illegally in its waters. The EU’s extensive fishing activities in these regions mean that how it operates and manages these activities has an immense impact on ocean health. With SFPAs, the EU is also setting the bar for other fisheries agreements between coastal States and non-EU countries. Current and upcoming negotiations for renewed SFPAs are an opportunity to close the identified gaps.

On Friday 15 November, representatives of the EU, African artisanal fisheries, NGOs and research institutes will discuss these issues at a Brussels panel debate hosted by the European Economic and Social Committee. Click here for more information and email lmilodale@wwf.eu to RSVP -registration is required.

Katrin Vilhelm Poulsen, Seafood Policy Officer at the WWF European Policy Office said: 

“Continued overfishing has put our ocean in jeopardy and, with it, the communities who depend on healthy marine life. The EU has signed agreements which should guarantee sustainable fishing practises and better fisheries management, yet this is not always happening. As it renegotiates its SFPAs, the EU must bring transparency to the system and ensure its fisheries are carrying out their activities sustainably, both in and outside of Europe’s waters.”

The current practices highlighted by the reports signal that the EU is not meeting UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 14 (Life Below Water), 2 (Zero Hunger), or 8 (Decent Work and Growth). To achieve fair SFPAs, both WWF reports offer a series of recommendations. These include: 

  • For the EU to develop ways of measuring how the EU fleet’s activities outside home waters contribute to the SDGs (and provide adequate resources to collect relevant data);
  • Increasing cooperation between the EU and African countries to reinforce fisheries monitoring, control and surveillance systems to secure sustainable and transparent fishing practices;
  • For the EU to support coastal States as they develop their sustainable fisheries policies and strategies;
  • For the European Commission and EU Member States to work towards better monitoring and data collection to demonstrate compliance with SFPA policies and the economic, environmental and social impacts on local communities, as well as the links between them;
  • Increasing transparency on all fisheries access agreements between coastal States and other countries beyond EU SFPAs, both public and private, to provide a more accurate understanding of the total fishery resource outtake of third country waters the EU enters into agreements with and prevent overfishing;
  • Ensuring that all relevant stakeholders are consulted in SFPA negotiations, including those most reliant on the fisheries resources implicated by these Agreements for food security and livelihoods.

Fisheries agreements – the partner countries to the EU | The EU has a role to play in helping partner countries to monitor and manage their fisheries in waters that are highly subject to overfishing and illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

To move towards sustainability, resilience and institutional growth, the EU must work to promote transparency in its existing practices. By highlighting specific areas for improvement through changes to EU policy and SFPA negotiations, WWF calls for the EU’s external fleet to become more sustainable, in line with the SDGs.

Read the reports:

The Status And Future Of Fisheries Partnership Agreements In The South West Indian Ocean (Summary)
Out of Sight, Out of Mind: the EU’s External Fishing Activity and the Sustainable Development Goals (Summary)
Out of Sight, Out of Mind: the EU’s External Fishing Activity and the Sustainable Development Goals (full report)

editorial@seafood.media
www.seafood.media


 Print


Click to know how to advertise in FIS
MORE NEWS
Japan
Mar 29, 18:30 (GMT + 9):
IN BRIEF - Frozen volume of salmon and trout, both lower than the previous year. Salmon coho Fall
China
Mar 29, 07:40 (GMT + 9):
Southeast Pacific Squid Index: Giant squid (dosidicus gigas)
Canada
Mar 29, 07:10 (GMT + 9):
Cooke Aquaculture Named One of Atlantic Canada’s Top Employers
Indonesia
Mar 29, 07:00 (GMT + 9):
IN BRIEF - EFishery acquihires Indonesian AI-powered IoT startup, to launch AI brand
France
Mar 29, 07:00 (GMT + 9):
Other Media | The Fishing Daily: French Minister Urges Dialogue Over UK Expansion of Marine Protected Areas
Thailand
Mar 29, 07:00 (GMT + 9):
Thai Union Collaborates to Achieve Zero Wastewater Discharge and Establish an Industry Learning Center
Russian Federation
Mar 29, 07:00 (GMT + 9):
Russia and China Combat Illegal Fishing: Electronic Certificates of Legality for Catches
United Kingdom
Mar 29, 07:00 (GMT + 9):
Brexit costs Scotland up to USD 126.09 million-a-year in lost salmon exports
French Guiana
Mar 29, 06:00 (GMT + 9):
IN BRIEF – 'The French vessel that is to come to patrol Guyana’s waters, saving the country $100M through illegal fishing, is yet to dock here'
Japan
Mar 29, 03:00 (GMT + 9):
Driftnet fishing for salmon and trout starts early. Agreement with Russia
Russian Federation
Mar 29, 01:00 (GMT + 9):
Will the Russian Far East be the country with the most snow crabs in 2025?
Viet Nam
Mar 29, 01:00 (GMT + 9):
Shrimp exports from Ecuador are facing many challenges
Japan
Mar 29, 00:50 (GMT + 9):
IN BRIEF - Faced with the Peruvian decline, fishmeal production in India and Oman is increasing rapidly
Spain
Mar 29, 00:00 (GMT + 9):
Otros Medios | La Voz de Galicia: Rescatan seis tripulantes de un pesquero que quedó a la deriva a 15 millas de Burela en medio de un fuerte tormenta
Taiwan
Mar 29, 00:00 (GMT + 9):
Other Media | SeafoodSource: Taiwanese fisheries body hosts US delegation for meetings on distant-water labor issues



Lenguaje
FEATURED EVENTS
  
TOP STORIES
Clipfish challenges in Brazil: Port bureaucracy stops millions worth
Brazil More and more clipfish containers are being stopped in Brazilian ports. - Complicated regulations make market access challenging, to say the least, say Norwegian exporters who risk large losses. Bra...
Catches in the Sea of Okhotsk and Bering Sea
Russia Fed. Situational update as of 03/24/2024 Source: Stockfile FIS Sea of Okhotsk (pollock) According to OSM data in the Sea of Okhotsk, pollock catch (industrial and coastal fisheries) as of March 24, 20...
Productive Development of the Fishing Activity
Peru Fishing Sector Bulletin - January 2024 The landing of hydrobiological resources registered a negative interannual variation of 62.7%, as a result of the lower landing of fishing resources for indirec...
NGO Sues UK Government Over International Fishing Quotas
United Kingdom Blue Marine Foundation, a charity dedicated to restoring the ocean to health, has launched legal proceedings over the government’s decision to set fishing opportunities, for more than half UK st...
 

Maruha Nichiro Corporation
Nichirei Corporation - Headquarters
Pesquera El Golfo S.A.
Ventisqueros - Productos del Mar Ventisqueros S.A
Wärtsilä Corporation - Wartsila Group Headquarters
ITOCHU Corporation - Headquarters
BAADER - Nordischer Maschinenbau Rud. Baader GmbH+Co.KG (Head Office)
Inmarsat plc - Global Headquarters
Marks & Spencer
Tesco PLC (Supermarket) - Headquarters
Sea Harvest Corporation (PTY) Ltd. - Group Headquarters
I&J - Irvin & Johnson Holding Company (Pty) Ltd.
AquaChile S.A. - Group Headquarters
Pesquera San Jose S.A.
Nutreco N.V. - Head Office
CNFC China National Fisheries Corporation - Group Headquarters
W. van der Zwan & Zn. B.V.
SMMI - Sunderland Marine Mutual Insurance Co., Ltd. - Headquarters
Icicle Seafoods, Inc
Starkist Seafood Co. - Headquearters
Trident Seafoods Corp.
American Seafoods Group LLC - Head Office
Marel - Group Headquarters
SalMar ASA - Group Headquarters
Sajo Industries Co., Ltd
Hansung Enterprise Co.,Ltd.
BIM - Irish Sea Fisheries Board (An Bord Iascaigh Mhara)
CEFAS - Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science
COPEINCA ASA - Corporacion Pesquera Inca S.A.C.
Chun Cheng Fishery Enterprise Pte Ltd.
VASEP - Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters & Producers
Gomes da Costa
Furuno Electric Co., Ltd. (Headquarters)
NISSUI - Nippon Suisan Kaisha, Ltd. - Group Headquarters
FAO - Food and Agriculture Organization - Fisheries and Aquaculture Department (Headquarter)
Hagoromo Foods Co., Ltd.
Koden Electronics Co., Ltd. (Headquarters)
A.P. Møller - Maersk A/S - Headquarters
BVQI - Bureau Veritas Quality International (Head Office)
UPS - United Parcel Service, Inc. - Headquarters
Brim ehf (formerly HB Grandi Ltd) - Headquarters
Hamburg Süd Group - (Headquearters)
Armadora Pereira S.A. - Grupo Pereira Headquarters
Costa Meeresspezialitäten GmbH & Co. KG
NOAA - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Headquarters)
Mowi ASA (formerly Marine Harvest ASA) - Headquarters
Marubeni Europe Plc -UK-
Findus Ltd
Icom Inc. (Headquarter)
WWF Centroamerica
Oceana Group Limited
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation
Ajinomoto Co., Inc. - Headquarters
Friosur S.A. - Headquarters
Cargill, Incorporated - Global Headquarters
Benihana Inc.
Leardini Pescados Ltda
CJ Corporation  - Group Headquarters
Greenpeace International - The Netherlands | Headquarters
David Suzuki Foundation
Fisheries and Oceans Canada -Communications Branch-
Mitsui & Co.,Ltd - Headquarters
NOREBO Group (former Ocean Trawlers Group)
Natori Co., Ltd.
Carrefour Supermarket - Headquarters
FedEx Corporation - Headquarters
Cooke Inc. - Group Headquarters
AKBM - Aker BioMarine ASA
Seafood Choices Alliance -Headquarter-
Austevoll Seafood ASA
Walmart | Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (Supermarket) - Headquarters
New Japan Radio Co.Ltd (JRC) -Head Office-
Gulfstream JSC
Marine Stewardship Council - MSC Worldwide Headquarters
Royal Dutch Shell plc (Headquarter)
Genki Sushi Co.,Ltd -Headquarter-
Iceland Pelagic ehf
AXA Assistance Argentina S.A.
Caterpillar Inc. - Headquarters
Tiger Brands Limited
SeaChoice
National Geographic Society
AmazonFresh, LLC - AmazonFresh

Copyright 1995 - 2024 Seafood Media Group Ltd.| All Rights Reserved.   DISCLAIMER