On the occasion of the 34th session of the FAO Committee on Fisheries (COFI), CAOPA and the Coalition for Fair Fisheries Agreements (CFFA) made a joint statement on item 9 on the agenda “Fight against IUU fishing”. The two organizations stress that combating undeclared and unregulated (IUU) fishing and promoting sustainable fisheries requires the creation of conditions for good governance, of which transparency is an essential element.
In their declaration, CAOPA and CFFA welcome the initiatives undertaken by FAO and its members to improve the traceability of fishing operations, such as capture documentation schemes and the allocation of a unique identification number for vessels.
However, in order to combat IUU fishing, these organizations mention that it is not enough to propose technical solutions, or to sign international agreements, such as the Agreement on Port State Measures, but that “it is also necessary to create the conditions for good fisheries governance to enable these solutions to be effective and these agreements to be properly implemented”.
Not all legal fishing is sustainable
In Africa, say CAPE and CAOPA, there are many examples of authorities providing licenses to vessels, often of foreign origin, thus legalizing their activities. They explain that “this causes pressure on resources and marine environment that is not compatible with sustainable resource exploitation. This unsustainable legal fishing, which endangers coastal communities, is often the result of corruption.”
Indeed, in order to combat this phenomenon, these two organizations assert that it is essential to disseminate, in an accessible medium, reliable information on the licenses granted and the financial and technical conditions of access.