Illegal fish continues to end up on plates in the European Union. According to an EU report, the control systems in many countries have “significant deficiencies”. One reason is that follow-up is still done on paper.
According to the top EU auditors, illegally caught fish still ends up on people’s plates all too often. “A main reason for this is the inconsistent application of controls and sanctions by the EU countries,” according to a report by the European Court of Auditors in Luxembourg. There are control systems that make it difficult for illegal fishery products to reach the consumer. But there are “significant deficiencies” in the control systems of some EU countries. This led to stocks being overfished and insufficient catches reported.
The EU has committed to ending illegal fishing by 2020, the report says. A total of 580 million euros were made available for this from the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund between 2014 and 2020. However, the EU missed its target. According to the Court of Auditors, one reason for this is that paper forms are still being used to track fish, which increases the risk of fraud. The EU Commission has already introduced a suitable IT system. However, this is not used by “a single EU country”.
In addition, the planned EU rules for fines for illegal fishing would not be applied uniformly by the EU states. The average fine is around 200 euros in Cyprus and more than 7000 euros in Spain. In some EU countries, the sanctions are not dissuasive enough compared to the profit made from illegal fishing.
According to the report, the EU has one of the world’s largest fishing fleets, with around 79,000 vessels. It thus turns over around six billion euros a year. The market leaders among the Member States in terms of trade volume include Spain, Denmark, France and the Netherlands. However, according to the auditors, EU citizens eat more fish than can be caught or farmed in the EU. In order to meet the high demand, 60 percent of the quantity consumed is imported. “This will make the EU the world’s largest importer of fisheries products.”
