In its fight against illegal fishing activities worldwide, the European Commission Tuesday announced a ban on imports of fisheries products from Sri Lanka.
EU Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Maria Damanaki, told a news conference that "Five countries receive today our appreciation for getting serious on illegal fishing. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for Sri Lanka. I hope that the message we are sending today will be a wake-up call for this country." "Five countries have taken very concrete measures to eradicate illegal fishing in their waters or their fleets. These countries are: Belize, Fiji, Panama, Togo and Vanuatu, representing together more than 50 million euro worth of imports each year. In the end, it was EU pressure that has helped these countries moving to sustainable fisheries.
She noted that the move comes after four years of intense dialogue with Sri Lanka after which it could not demonstrate that it sufficiently addressed illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
"Fisheries products caught by vessels flagged in Sri Lanka will not be able to enter the EU market after three months' time from now," said Damanaki.
According to the Commission's assessment, Sri Lanka has not sufficiently addressed the shortcomings in its fisheries control system identified in November 2012. The main weaknesses include shortcomings in the implementation of control measures, a lack of deterrent sanctions for the high seas fleet, as well as lacking compliance with international and regional fisheries rules.
The EU imported 7.400 tonnes of fish from Sri Lanka in 2013 with a total value of 74 million euro. Sri Lanka is one of the biggest exporters to the EU of high value fishery products such as fresh and chilled swordfish, tuna and tuna-like species.
The Commission has proposed further measures to the EU Council of Ministers , to accompany the trade ban. These include a ban on fishing in the waters of Sri Lanka by EU flagged vessels, on joint fishing operations, on the reflagging of EU vessels to Sri Lanka, and on fisheries agreements. These additional measures will enter into force once the Council has adopted them.
On the other hand, the Commission has prolonged the cooperation with Korea, Curacao and Ghana until January 2015. Despite some progress achieved in these countries, which have received formal warnings in November 2013, more time is needed in these countries to make changes, she added.