Enforcement of EU fishing rules ‘inadequate’
A report from a coalition of environmental groups has found that inadequate implementation of EU law by member states is allowing illegal fishing products to enter the union’s market.
The report was compiled by the EU IUU Fishing Coalition, which includes the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), Oceana, The Nature Conservancy, The Pew Charitable Trusts and WWF EU.
Citing estimates linking one-fifth of global seafood catches to illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, the coalition says that seafood tied to environmental destruction, serious human-rights abuses, and crimes such as forced labour is ending up on European plates.
‘Verification failures’
The group says that its analysis of the implementation of the between 2020 and 2023 shows that some countries “consistently failed to carry out even the most basic checks” on seafood imports.
It adds that several member states are failing to verify the catch certificates intended to prove that fish have been legally caught.
The coalition says that this leaves states “at high risk” of importing products associated with human and environmental crimes.
finds that, in 2022 and 2023, Italy verified just one catch certificate each year, while Portugal verified five per year between 2020 and 2023, refusing only two shipments.
Refusals ‘shockingly low’
“Across the EU, the number of imports refused entry to the market remains shockingly low, even in major seafood-importing countries such as Italy and Portugal,” said coalition co-ordinator Thomas Walsh.
“This picture is compounded by the widespread failure of some member states to meet their legal obligation to inspect at least 5% of direct landings by non-EU vessels.
“Most concerning is the Netherlands, which continues to receive large volumes of seafood from high-risk flag states – including Russia – yet still does not meet this minimum inspection requirement,” Walsh said.
The report finds that Ireland comes in well above the required threshold, inspecting well above 30% of landings, while Spain’s inspection rate is above 70%.
While the coalition describes the digitisation of import controls through the CATCH system as “a positive step”, it warns that technological solutions alone cannot address systemic failures, such as the need to increase physical inspections of direct landings.