January 15, 2008

 

EU's illegal seafood market worth US$1.6 billion

 

 

Each year, more than US$1.6 billion worth of fish enters the EU illegally, according to  an article in the New York Times (January 15, 2007).

 

Soaring demand and fishing quotas have led to a tripling of prices in the region and fishing companies are thriving from the lucrative trade, often illegally, the paper reported.

 

As fish stocks in Europe have shrunk from years of overfishing, the EU now needs to import 60 percent of its fish often from large fishing companies fishing off the coasts of West Africa and other parts of the world.

 

The EU fish market is now worth US$22 billion, with up to half coming from developing nations and much of it illegally caught, the paper said, citing the World Wide Fund for Nature. Within the EU itself, up to 40 percent of the fish caught in the Baltic Sea may be illegal, the paper said. 

 

The fishing operations, manned by companies from China, South Korea and Europe, uses highly sophisticated fishing fleets which are rapidly diminishing fish stocks in the West African coast.  

 

Fishing boats often uses one license for multiple boats and unload their catches onto other boats to continue fishing, flagrantly flouting quotas, the paper said. Up to half of the boats tracked by conservation groups violate rules, the paper said.

 

Due to fish scarcity, prices have more than tripled in the EU as rising demand met with government quotas to limit fishing within the EU region.

 

Cod, which costs GBP 6 four years ago, now costs five times as much, making the humble fish a delicacy in the fish-starved region, the paper said.

 

Unlike meat where farm-to-fork traceability can be implemented, fish, legal and illegal, come from far flung regions of the globe and are sold along side by side in Europe's markets with no way of origin-tracing. 

 

Cheaper airfreight and increased globalisation has also made it easier for middlemen to obtain supplies.  Lax enforcement of rules on the part of the governments where fishing vessels are registered also made it easy for fishing companies to catch fish illegally.

 

To improve enforcement, the EU is proposing to let officials at its ports check with countries where the vessels are registered to ascertain whether fish are caught legally. It is also proposing more financial assistance for developing countries to enforce fishing laws.