The Fight against Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing

Abstract

The international community have been of aware of IUU fishing for over a decade. As a result, the FAO adopted an International Plan of Action in 2001 which called upon all its members to take actions against these illegal practices.
The EC adopted a Regulation to prevent, deter and eliminate IUU fishing on 29 September 2008. It will enter into force on 1 January 2010 and is inspired by the FAOs International Plan of Action to prevent, deter and eliminate IUU fishing (2001). The Proposal for a Regulation to fight IUU fishing was a result from a public consultation held in January 2007. It constitutes one of the most serious threats to the sustainable exploitation of living aquatic resources and marine biodiversity, causes depletion of fish stocks and future stock growth, damages the marine environment by over fishing and irresponsible fishing practices and techniques. The depletion of fish stocks reduces the size of catches which in turn contributes to lower turnover and eventually job losses. It contributes to unfair competition among those operators who abide by the rules and those who do not and it causes serious overall consequences for coastal communities and in particular those in developing countries who rely to a large extent on fisheries.