Cameroonian fishery merchandise banned in EU – Fee

The European Fee on Thursday (Jan. 05) banned imports of seafood caught in Cameroon’s waters, or caught by ships flagged there, and it labeled the central African nation as “non-cooperating” within the combat in opposition to unlawful, unreported and unregulated fishing.

The fee gave Cameroon a so-called “pink card” and stated EU member states would flip away seafood shipments from Cameroon even when it has catch certificates validated by the nationwide authorities.

Cameroon is one in every of 4 non-EU nations which can be at the moment on the fee’s “pink card” record, alongside St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Comoros and Cambodia. The nation has in recent times emerged as one in every of a number of nations that supply “flags of comfort” the place corporations can — for a charge — register their ships in a nation that has no hyperlinks to the vessel.

Final yr, The Related Press investigated 14 vessels registered in Cameroon that had been accused of unlawful and unregulated fishing and located that they had been owned or managed by corporations primarily based in EU member states.

The European Fee stated unlawful, unregulated and unreported fishing is “one of the severe threats to the sustainable exploitation of dwelling aquatic sources.”

“We’ve zero tolerance for IUU fishing and subsequently the Fee has acted strongly in the present day by giving Cameroon a pink card,” stated the European Commissioner for Surroundings, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevičius

A spokesperson for Cameroon’s Ministry of Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries couldn’t be reached for remark Thursday.

Thursday’s ban by the fee comes almost two years after it urged Cameroonian authorities to step up its motion in opposition to unlawful fishing.

The Fee estimates as a lot as 26 tons of fish are caught illegally annually, comprising about 15 p.c of the world’s complete catch. Unlawful, unreported or unregulated fishing is value between 10 billion and 20 billion euros annually.