Illegal fisheries: green cards for five countries, but red card for Sri Lanka

In its fight against illegal fishing activities worldwide, the European Commission proposed on the 14 October 2014 to ban imports of fisheries products from Sri Lanka to tackle the commercial benefits stemming from illegal fishing. According to the Commission's assessment, Sri Lanka had not sufficiently addressed the shortcomings in its fisheries control system identified in November 2012.

In contrast, the European Commission confirmed that Belize, Fiji, Panama, Togo and Vanuatu, which had received warnings at the same time as Sri Lanka, had successfully taken measures to tackle illegal fishing. Consequently, the Commission proposed to lift the trade measures imposed in March 2014 against Belize.

• Primary Source

European Commission: MEMO/14/584: Question and Answers on the EU's fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-14-584_en.htm

European Commission: STATEMENT/14/314: 'Improved fisheries management thanks to robust cooperation with the EU' http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_STATEMENT-14-314_en.htm

ESO: Background information: Commission warns third countries over insufficient action to fight illegal fishing http://www.europeansources.info/record/commission-warns-third-countries-over-insufficient-action-to-fight-illegal-fishing/

European Commission: DG Maritime Affairs and Fisheries: Fisheries: Policy: Illegal Fishing http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/cfp/illegal_fishing/index_en.htm

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