Illegal fishing and bottom trawling pose long‑term threat to marine ecosystems, well beyond EU’s territorial waters.
Illegal fishing in the name of short‑term profit threatens a whole ecosystem. Technically known as illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, it can no longer be tolerated and the EU has now decided to act.
It is proposing a package of measures to stop these practices, which gravely endanger both fish stocks and marine biodiversity, as well as causing immense harm to coastal populations and fishermen working within the law.
The EU wants the rules to apply to everyone, without exception, and therefore proposes:
- closing the EU market to all uncertified (and therefore untraceable) fishing products
- drawing up a blacklist of offending vessels and countries which allow them to operate
- severely penalising all illegal fishing both in and outside the EU's territorial waters
- improving cooperation on managing the flow/supervision of marine products.
Another technique, bottom trawling, can be equally devastating, especially on the high seas where fishing is less regulated. European fleets fish all over the world, so the EU's responsibilities extend far beyond its own waters. Under its new integrated maritime policy, the EU is proposing new fisheries management initiatives, in line with the UN General Assembly resolution on sustainable fisheries. These would be enforceable at the level of the UN, regional fisheries organisations and all the relevant international agreements. A system of prior authorisation is suggested for unregulated areas, and European vessels would be prohibited from fishing below depths of over 1 000m.
- New EU energy plan - more security, less pollution
- Europe looks to its seas
- Catching only what we need
author: European Commission
