EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Maria DAMANAKI
EU Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries
Intervention in the European Parliament plenary session
on Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) fishing
EP Plenary Session/Strasbourg
12 June 2013
SPEECH/13/519
Mr President, Honourable Members, Ladies and Gentlemen,
First, I would like to thank the rapporteur, Mr Romeva, but also, more generally, the
PECH Committee for their work on this important report. I am pleased by the clear
support given to the proposal on alignment of the IUU Regulation to the Lisbon Treaty.
Now, that the reform of the CFP is on tracks, enforcement of control and IUU policy will
become my clear priority. We have to work on this together.
A lot of energy has been devoted to combat overfishing in the context of the CFP reform
in the last years, and rightly so. In fact, sustainability is the red line connecting CFP
reform with this file. So, the Commission has continued vigorously enforcing the existing
rules in EU waters. For instance, in March of this year, we reduced the Spanish quota for
mackerel by 65.000 tonnes because of overfishing. In recent years, deficiencies in the
control systems have also lead to administrative enquiries and agreed action plans with
Malta (2011), Spain (2012) and Latvia (May 2013).
But ladies and gentlemen, whilst we are getting our own house in order, we still import
65 % of the fish we eat [half of which comes from wild fisheries]. It is therefore essential
to ensure that international conservation rules get applied not only in EU waters, but
also for the wild fish we import.
[[[ In this context, the Commission has investigated more than 200 cases about vessels
presumed to be involved in IUU fishing. The aim of this EU pressure is to induce the flag
and/or coastal states to sanction the infringements committed. To give just one
example, tenacious EU investigations lead, in a case involving 16 Korean vessels and a
Panamean vessel fishing off West Africa, to global sanctions of 4.2 M€. In the light of
such sanctions, these vessels will obviously not be blacklisted. However, the culture of
compliance continues spreading. ]]]
My main priority here is to work at the level of countries. Over the past 3 years, the
Commission has undertaken a process of identification of non-cooperating third
countries. This resulted in 8 countries being given a "yellow card" in November 2012.
The objective of this exercise is to bring about fundamental reform of the fisheries
control systems: satellite control [VMS], inspections, laws allowing effective sanctions.
During these last months, we were able to convince some countries of moving to an
effective fisheries control system. In particular, Fiji, Togo, Sri Lanka and Panama have
made credible progress. We continue cooperating with these countries, but not loosely.
We do this within a clear dedicated framework.
For all of the 8 pre-listed countries, we are now in the process of determining the next
step. The ones making credible progress will receive additional time to implement the
necessary reforms and adapt their fleets. A mission is on-going in one country [Vanuatu]
as we speak. The others have not been that cooperative until now. Their current attitude
leaves me no choice but to start preparations for the next steps, which could entail trade
measures to be adopted by the Council on proposal of the Commission.
Let me conclude by thanking again Mr Romeva and the esteemed Members of the
Parliament for their support in the fight against IUU fishing. I would like to reiterate my
commitment to continue delivering tangible results. I look forward to your continued
support for this pioneering IUU work.
Thank you
2