9th June 2009
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Key findings in "Dirty Fish: How EU Hygiene Standards Facilitate Illegal Fishing in West Africa" include:• Filmed and documentary evidence of pirate fishing vessels, operating off the coast of Sierra Leone, carrying import numbers granted by the European Commission to confirm that they have met strict EU hygiene standards and hence are allowed to import to the EU. These import numbers come from the Directorate-General of Health and Consumers (DG Sanco). • Documented and filmed consistent failings in basic hygiene standards and filthy conditions on board pirate fishing vessels, leading to severely compromised food safety and hygiene for European and other consumers. • Highlighted lack of inspection to prove DG Sanco hygiene standards are met and that DG Sanco requires no proof of legality of fish, illustrating inconsistency between EU agencies that is exploited by pirate operators in order to launder their fish on to European markets. • Highlights the potential for failure of a recently approved European Union Regulation to address illegal fishing (due to be implemented in 2010), illustrating the need for coordination between DG Sanco and the Directorate-General of Fisheries and Maritime Affairs (DG Mare) which would ensure that known pirate fishing vessels are identified, and then barred and/or eliminated from DG Sanco lists. • Reveals that pirate fishing vessels are taking advantage of the damage caused by Sierra Leone’s notorious civil war to fish illegally, often without licenses and within the inshore waters reserved as fish breeding grounds and for local fishermen. • Notes expert opinion that failure by the EU to act against pirate fishers will lead to further declines in commercial catches, loss of marine biodiversity and livelihoods in some of the world’s poorest nations. The case is made for action to be complemented by other local, regional and international initiatives to address IUU fishing. While the European Commission has a responsibility to act now to close the loophole offered by DG Sanco’s vessel listing system, South Korea and China must also make increased efforts to fulfill their obligations as major fishing states, and control the activities of their fishing vessels. Action in Europe and Asia should be directed to build support for developing states, while strictly controlling the operations of their fishing fleets. Download "Dirty Fish: How EU Hygiene Standards Facilitate Illegal Fishing in West Africa" | ||||
EJF Executive Director, Steve Trent: “Pirate fishing is driven by a growing unsustainable global demand for seafood, and now threatens the future of world fisheries. The impacts of IUU fishing are social, economic, and environmental. Pirate fishing operators are supplying European consumers with fish by stealing from some of the poorest people on the planet and those least able to protect their resources. At the same time they are threatening our health with dirty fish that could cause serious illness. The EU has a clear responsibility to act on this problem now, create a joined up system of regulation and make sure pirate fish does not enter its market”.
EJF’s lead Campaigner on IUU, Duncan Copeland: ‘We were shocked to find just how widespread pirate fishing was in Sierra Leone and off the coast of West Africa in general. The impacts it has on both the marine ecosystem and local fishing communities is devastating and in Sierra Leone, one of the poorest countries in the world, they simply cannot afford to lose this invaluable fish resource or compromise its sustainability, just so that Europeans can eat cheap fish and unscrupulous operators can make vast profits” Download "Dirty Fish: How EU Hygiene Standards Facilitate Illegal Fishing in West Africa" | ||||
Further Information
• Over the past 14 months EJF has documented several vessels fishing illegally in Sierra Leone, all of which are listed by DG Sanco and many of which have history of IUU fishing. This includes the Apsari-3, arrested by the Sierra Leone Navy with support from EJF for IUU fishing. EJF documented how this vessel was full of boxes of illegally-caught fish that were packed in unsanitary conditions, despite being clearly stamped with the vessel’s DG Sanco number. • On November 1, 2008 the pirate fishing vessel Apsari-3, was arrested for illegal fishing by the Sierra Leone navy, with support from EJF who boarded the vessel with the Navy. All above-deck identification markings on the Apsari-3 had been carefully concealed – disguising markings and multiple vessel identifications are common ploys used by illegal fishing operators to hide their activities. • After the arrest of Apsari-3, EJF filmed as the catch was sorted by the crew, documenting that only those species considered commercially valuable were kept. The rest, an estimated 75% of the total, was discarded over the side. Those fish that were kept were packed into boxes in extremely unsanitary conditions. The vessel was rusting extensively and lacked basic hygiene facilities. • Pirate vessels fish employ destructive fishing methods that destroy seabed habitats and results in high levels of ‘bycatch’. This bycatch can be up to 75% of the total, and EJF has documented how the pirate fishermen simply dump this dead over the side. • The report also reveals that the pirate fishing vessels operate in direct competition with local artisanal fishermen by stealing fish, and appear to deliberately run over the nets and boats of local fishermen, causing catastrophic damage, injuries and even deaths. • Sierra Leone, ranked last of 179 countries in the United Nations Human Development Index, is in the process of recovering from a brutal civil war, which resulted in the deaths of 50,000 people and the displacement of more than 2 million. Currently 70% of the population lives below the national poverty line of a dollar a day and most Sierra Leoneans live with little or no access to healthcare, education or clean water. • Fishing is a vital source of income for the Sierra Leonean men and women – around 30, 000 artisanal fishers and 200,000 ancillary workers are engaged in traditional fish capture, and fisheries represents around 10% of GDP. Fish is also a crucial component of food security, contributing 80% of the total animal protein to the country. • It has been estimated that foreign illegal fishing vessels are stealing around USD29million of fish from Sierra Leone each year; in sub-Saharan Africa as a whole, the total value of illegal fish is approximately US$1billion. In recent years foreign fishing vessels have multiplied, taking advantage of the lack of capacity of the Sierra Leone government to monitor and control their coastal waters. • The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimates that 80% of the world’s fish stocks are fully or overexploited. The high demand for seafood in Europe is driving the theft and potential collapse of fisheries resources. It has been estimated that IUU (Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated) fishing, also known as ‘pirate’ fishing, accounts for 10 – 23.5 billion US dollars a year worldwide, representing between 11 and 26 million tons of fish a year. Scientists believe that at current rates of fishing by the year 2048 the world will run out of commercial fish stocks. • Vessels that fish illegally do so to minimize costs associated with legal fishing methods. Lack of official licenses and proper safety equipment, unsanitary conditions and appalling crew conditions have all been documented by EJF aboard vessels observed conducting IUU fishing activities. Download "Dirty Fish: How EU Hygiene Standards Facilitate Illegal Fishing in West Africa" Further information or comment: Duncan Copeland: duncan.copeland@ejfoundation.org + 44 (0) 207 359 0440 or Steve Trent: steve.trent@ejfoundation.org |
