Borg wins backing for stricter fishing rules

EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg has secured an agreement for stricter controls against illegal fishing and harsher penalties from next year.

The agreement was struck yesterday following lengthy negotiations at the EU Fisheries Council meeting in Luxembourg.

Under the agreement, fishermen caught infringing EU fishing rules will now be subject to penalties including having their fishing boats banned after four infractions. Member states failing to enforce controls will be subject to fines.

Rampant illegal fishing has been blamed for dwindling fish populations over the past two decades and the EU has been unable to crack down on the practice. Outdated regulations have failed to deter fishermen from landing protected fish illegally at a high profit.

Under the new rules, proposed by Commissioner Borg last year, fishing trawlers and boats will now start being monitored by satellites and logs will start being surveyed electronically to make sure they do not overfish and bring in illegal catches.

"A major problem with overfishing is that certain fishermen intent on beating the system can do so almost unnoticed," Commissioner Borg admitted following yesterday's agreement.

"Now, we have new rules and it will become much more difficult for rogue fishermen to continue with their illegal activities."

Although fines and penalties had already been in place in the past, they used to be so insignificant that fishermen would simply include them in the cost of the operation and still make a profit if they got caught.

"With the new control regulation the dissuasive element is significantly strengthened so it is no longer so easy for fishers to carry out illegal activities," Dr Borg said.

Recreational fishermen will also have to abide by the new rules.

Amateur fishermen landing threatened fish such as cod in the North Sea and bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean will have to declare their catches with the authorities and these have to be deducted from the national quota.

According to a Commission spokesman, the catches of tuna by amateur fishermen had already been included in the ICCAT (International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas) recovery plan and thus the new EU rules simply include what had already been the practice.

"Nothing will change for Malta's amateur fishermen landing tuna as they are already obliged to report their catches to the authorities," the spokesman said.