Following the pre-notification of South Korea in the context of the regulation on IUU fishing, it is clear that the European Commission should give more transparency to the process, as it does with the enforcement of the sanitary and phytosanitary regulations.
Read morePresentations at Interpol’s meeting on IUU fishing confirm resistance to publishing information on licensing: Why?
In what sector with high rates of unlicensed activity would information on who is licensed be considered confidential in order to help fight corporate criminality? According to a presentation by the new chair of the 'Fish-I' project, that would be the fisheries sector in East Africa.
Read moreCSOs comment on access conditions for EU fleets fishing outside FPAs
One issue CFFA and other NGOs insisted on in the context of the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy, was the need for the EU to ensure all its external fleets respect similar sustainability conditions, including those fishing outside FPAs and RFMOs. Such concern was taken into account in the reformed basic regulation, and the process is now advancing a step further with the revision of the Fishing Authorisations regulation (FAR). Prior to the publication of its review proposal, the EC has organised a consultation, for which Civil Society organisations active in the Long Distance Regional Advisory Committee (LDRAC) have sent joint preliminary comments
(click here to see the comments).
8 organisations, including NGOs (Bread For the World, CFFA, Danish Living Seas, Oceana, Seas At Risk, SSNC, WWF) and the trade union ETF insisted that the FAR should ensure that key sustainability rules agreed in the reformed CFP, - in particular the restoration of marine biological resources-, and those specified in binding international agreements, are implemented for all EU flagged vessels fishing outside EU waters. These organisations then make comments and proposals to address, in the FAR review process, the following specific issues:
- Abusive reflagging:
- The lack of transparency in private arrangements:
- The need to ensure that social legislation is properly applied:
- The need to monitor private arrangements
- Coherence and compliance with Control Regulation, IUU Regulation and Regulation on countries allowing unsustainable fishing
The European Parliament ambitious for the future EU fisheries relations with third countries
The European parliament voted on February 6th 2013 on its report concerning the future CFP legislation (the ‘basic regulation’). The final report was supported by an important majority of parliamentarians (502 in favor; 137 against – a qualified majority is 377). This means that the Parliament is in a relatively strong position to now go and discuss with the Council and EC to get a final agreement about what the future fisheries policy will look like.
In a briefing note, CFFA highlights the elements of the report that will affect the future EU fisheries relations with third countries (click here for CFFA note), whether they are related to future Sustainable Fishing Agreements (SFAs), fishing operations taking place under RFOs or outside the framework of SFAs and RFOs. Important progress are also registered in terms of good governance, transparency in particular.
The European Parliament echoes the concerns regarding the lack of transparency in the EU-Mauritius FPA and protocol : the EU Delegation in Mauritius gives some answers
A new FPA and its protocol were signed between EU and Mauritius in February 2012. The final ratification has not occurred yet but criticisms are rising regarding this agreement. A number of organizations linked to the fishery sector in Mauritius expressed their worries on the way the negociations of the FPA and the protocol were conducted. They condemn in particular the lack of transparency and lack of public consultations of stakeholders, which would be in contradiction with the Aarhus convention. The EU delegation in Mauritius issued a press release which answers partially to these concerns. It is said that the fishworkers’ trade union was indeed consulted as all the stakeholders to the agreement. Others meeting were also organized with the Delegation and fishworkers organizations, as well as a meeting in may 2012. It is reminded that the FPA is a commercial agreement and therefore some informations regarding the partner country shall remain confidential.
Regarding the matter of stocks overexploitation, the fishing opportunities are based on the best scitific advices and management recommendations suggested by the scientific committee of the IOTC and the latest report says that none of the stocks targeted by the EU fleet are overexploited. Besides, one of the objectives of the protocol is to avoid any conflicts between the industrial fleets and small scale fisheries. The species targetted by the EU fleets are not the one landed by the small scale fisheries. It is emphasized that the fish is not sold off by the EU and that the aim of the financial compensation is to help developping the fishery sector in Mauritius, taking economic governance and fisheries sustainability into account.
Sources :
Parliamentary question : http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides...
Press release of the EU Delegation in Mauritius (in French) :http://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/m...
Future common fisheries policy in Africa: outlook from CAOPA
CAOPA answered a questionnaire on an assessment of the fishery sector in the ECOWAS region, proposed by AU regarding the process of a definition of a common fisheries policy, the subject of which being “Contribution of the African confederation of artisanal fishing organizations”, on the 24th of August 2012. The following questionnaire identifies the main strategic issues for capture fisheries and aquaculture in the region and the main challenges and opportunities for these sectors, such as maintaining coastal communities livelihoods, food security and concerted management of the coastal area/fisheries co-management. The lack of transparency in policies is a key issue, since it threatens the exploitation of resources. Indeed, “transparency in this regard must become the rule and must be the basis for an informed participation of the stakeholders, in particular artisanal fishing communities. Greater transparency is also an important tool in the fight against IUU fishing, which is thriving when the opacity and corruption reign”. Besides, an analysis on the current human and institutional capacities in the region is proposed. The strengths and weaknesses, challenges and opportunities for the sectors, namely marine fisheries, inland fisheries and aquaculture in the region are highlighted: “Strategies and policies should also be developed to enable artisanal fisheries, which currently target mainly coastal resources, often overfished, to develop offshore artisanal fisheries, for example for tuna species, so that our countries can derive more benefits from offshore fisheries”. An examination of the level of the existing cooperation between the regional economic communities and regional fisheries organizations in the region is provided and some propositions to strengthen cooperation and collaboration are made. Moreover, “Artisanal fisheries professionals must be recognized as primary stakeholder by decision makers”. The role of civil society and media is also stressed to be important in the management process. The fact that there are weaknesses in the implementation of the Code of conduct of the FAO for responsible fishing and other relevant documents in the region or the country is also emphasized. At last, some cross border issues in the management of fisheries and the environment in the region are indicated.
EC will publish FPA evaluations
In response to CFFA letter on FPA evaluations, the EC announced that ’from now on, all reports should be non-classified and we should properly ensure their dissemination, including their publication on the Internet. At the same time, the Commission services will endeavour to ensure that evaluations reports are available before the adoption of negotiating mandates by the Council’.
This was a long standing demand from CFFA, and we welcome this step for more transparency!
However, we still regret that the EC is not open to a wide consultation of Civil Society organisations, as it underlines being ’cautious in initiating a process of open consultation as it would change the nature of the evaluation and lead to a large extent the process being "out of control".
CFFA recommendations for future FPA ex-ante ex-post evaluations
CFFA has published a paper proposing recommendations for improving the process of future FPAs evaluations.
It was sent it to the EC, with a letter asking for:
all evaluation reports to be made systematically public (rather than made available on request);
in order to improve public participation in the decision making process, evaluations need to be reviewed and commented on by stakeholders from both parties before new agreements are concluded;
several issues should be given more consideration in the evaluations, including the impacts of the EU owned fleets activities fishing outside fishing agreements, the by-catch taken by European vessels (composition, value), the implementation of the social clause, etc
Read the paper here.
Securing transparency in African Marine Fisheries
Over 60 participants from 16 African countries and from 4 countries in the European Union gathered in Mbour, Senegal’s second most important fishing town, to attend a 3 day Conference on Transparency in the Maritime Fisheries Sector in Africa. The event was hosted and organized by the African Confederation of Professional Artisanal Fisheries Organizations (CAOPA) in collaboration with TransparentSea, the Coalition for Fair Fisheries Arrangements (CFFA) and the West Africa Rural Foundation (WARF). This Conference followed the celebration of the World Fisheries Day, also organised by CAOPA, where the FAO Voluntary guidelines for sustainable small scale fisheries were discussed.
Participants to the Conference included fishermen leaders, leaders from the post-harvest sector including women fish processors and traders, civil society organizations, and local authorities. Also present were members of the West African Journalists’ Network for Responsible Fisheries (REJOPRAO), Seafood Choices Alliance Seafood Champion award winners in 2010.
Participants shared and learned about how massive investments being made in aid projects for the development of artisanal fisheries are not benefitting fishing communities, and where transparency is lacking on where the aid monies end up. So too massive flows of speculative transnational capital are being invested in industrial fishing operations in African waters.
The conference underlined how transparency is an emerging issue in fisheries, an issue highlighted by the FAO in its State of the World Fisheries and Aquaculture Report for 2010, and being taken account of by the World Bank and other major donors which are beginning to adopt transparency programmes.
Amongst other issues, Conference participants called for Standards and Principles for transparency in fisheries to be developed and adopted. These would include making information available in local languages using simplified terminology; setting time limits for processing and responding to requests for information; making information readily accessible in the form that best suits the country where it is disseminated; and ensuring proper participation and prior informed consent in policy making and implementation.
Contribution by Brian O’Riordan, ICSF Belgium Office Secretary
For more information read the Conference report
VG SSF Guidelines and Civil Society:https://sites.google.com/site/small...
Information on VG SSF Process:http://www.fao.org/fishery/ssf/guid...
The Benefits and Limits of Transparency
CFP Reform: Good Governance issues
On October 5th 2011, CFFA organised, with some of its partners, a workshop in the European Parliament, on good governance issues in the reform of the CFP external dimension. The workshop was attended by about 60 participants, including representatives from the European Commission, members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and staff, members of the African parliamentary network APPEL, representatives from EU and ACP Member States, from EU and African fishing organisations platforms , trade unions, fish traders, and NGOs.
The summary report highlights the main points of agreement emerging from the debate, which included:
• The EU’s objectives must be to ensure all its fleets fishing outside EU waters, whether under access agreements, private licensing schemes or joint ventures, operate sustainably, from an environmental, social and economic point of view.
• The EU should also promote the establishment of a level playing field for all fishing operators from distant water fishing nations and coastal countries, whilst recognising the rights of developing countries and their coastal fishing communities to have priority access to their resources.
• The EU needs to develop stronger measures to promote transparency in the CFP, and should also take a leading role in mainstreaming transparency in fisheries, which requires supporting other governments and fisheries organisations to implement transparency measures.
• EU fisheries agreements should be reformed so that they provide a framework to control all EU fisheries-related activities in developing countries fisheries, whilst providing the necessary support to ensure all private investments made in these fisheries are transparent, and environmentally, socially and economically sustainable. The reform of the CFP external dimension must ensure that the means and mechanisms to achieve those objectives are developed and implemented.
Following the meeting, CFFA drafted a list of proposed amendments to the CFP basic regulation, related to good governance issues.
EU-Mauritania FPA: contribution of the Mauritanian NGO "Mer Bleue"
The Mauritanian NGO "Mer Bleue" congratulates the European Parliament for its resolution of May 14th on the new fisheries agreement. We are convinced that this resolution will be a crucial step in achieving sustainable and equitable fisheries in Mauritania and in the subregion. By this contribution, we wish to echo the MEPs’ call for FPA negotiations between the UE and Mauritania to be preceded by a broader debate allowing the participation of citizens, Civil Society organizations and national parliamentarians, in order to ensure democracy and transparency in fish resources management.
NGOs file complaint with the Commission for denying access to documents
Evaluations of fisheries agreements are kept secret. Following this refusal, TransparentSea and Client Earth sent a ‘confirmatory application’ to the Secretary General of the European Commission. NGOs consider taking the Commission to court.
Transparency in FPAs
CFFA and its Kenyan partner, Transparent Sea, organized and facilitated a workshop in the European Parliament, on January 26th, on ’how to improve transparency in the future CFP external dimension’ (see article on the benefits and limits of transparency).
At this occasion, Gaoussou Gueye, Secretary of the African Confederation of Small-scale Fisheries Professional Organizations (CAOPA), raised the issue of transparency in the context of EU-ACP relations through two cases: the Fisheries Partnership Agreements and the implementation of EU financed support programmes to the fisheries sector.
The benefits and limits of transparency
The European Union is currently reforming its Common Fisheries Policy. Initial discussions suggest the issue of improving transparency and accountability in EU fisheries will be taken seriously, with specific recommendations being made on introducing transparency and anti-corruption clauses in EU Fisheries Partnership Agreements signed with third countries. Such recommendations come at a time when calls for improving transparency and accountability in fisheries are gaining momentum, not only from civil society, but also from the fishing industry. The CFP therefore represents an opportunity to advance the notion of access to information and accountability in international fisheries, not only within the EU. Yet this call for improving transparency that has accompanied the CFP reform process has yet to be elaborated on, and recommendations remain vague. This paper aims at deepening the debates on how transparency can be achieved through the CFP reforms, considering both the benefits and the limitations to transparency reforms. The paper puts forward some key discussion points that could be used as the basis for the development of a coherent and thorough strategy on transparency in fisheries, driven by the EU in collaboration with partner organisations, including the fishing authorities of developing countries.
Availability of fishing licenses lists: Gabon
CFFA welcomes the steps taken by the republic of Gabon to make available to the public the lists of fishing vessels licensed in 2008/2009.
We encourage all ACP countries to take such steps. Moreover, we would like to highlight the importance for ACP countries to publish an update of these lists, so that real time data about fishing vessels licensed can be accessed by the public and third countries authorities, partners for sustainable fisheries development.
In particular, in the context of the fight against IUU fishing, the availability of updated lists of fishing vessels licensed in ACP countries is a key element for collaboration between coastal states -ACP countries in this case- and market states -such as the EU- to help efficient action to be taken in order to stop the trade of illegally caught fish.
First Conference of African Ministers of Fisheries and Aquaculture in Banjul
NEPAD and African Union Fisheries Summit: Livelihoods should come first urge small-scale fishers and NGOs
Banjul, Gambia, 22 September 2010. Artisanal and small scale fishers and associated civil society representatives from seventeen African countries met in Banjul, Gambia on 21 September, 2010, in advance of the first NEPAD Conference of African Ministers on Fisheries and Aquaculture (CAMFA) to be held on 23 September 2010. The meeting was organized by the Coalition for Fair Fisheries Arrangements, the African Confederation of Artisanal Fishery Professional Organizations and the Commonwealth Foundation, under the banner of "Our Fish, Our Future".
Following the meeting, participants issued the Banjul Civil Society Declaration on Sustainable Livelihoods in African Fisheries (http://www.camfa-cso.org). The declaration highlights key issues in African fisheries and provides recommendations on how the 2005 NEPAD Action Plan for Development of Fisheries and Aquaculture should be taken forward.
The declaration warns that a purely economic approach represents a threat to the sustainable development of fisheries resources and livelihoods of poor marginalized artisanal and small scale fishing communities. It emphasizes the importance and value of small-scale and artisanal fisheries in the African context towards providing food security for 200 million Africans and jobs for more than 10 million people engaged in fish production, processing and trade. It further highlights the negative impacts of climate change, industrial fishing and illegal unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU), including dwindling catches, displacement of communities and the destruction of fishing grounds. In turn this affects the social stability of entire regions, the Declaration states.
The significance of IUU fishing in African waters was echoed by Tim Bostock, Fisheries advisor to United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) in the opening session of the CAMFA on Monday 20th September, who noted that illegal fishing alone accounts for removing fish valued at some $1billion from the waters of Sub-Saharan Africa every year.
The CAMFA is a follow-up to the 2005 Abuja "Fish for All" summit, and African fisheries ministers are expected to assess and validate a fisheries plan of action for the region.
The meeting of small scale and artisanal fishers and civil society organizations is also part of an ongoing process, which since 2006 has included a growing network of West African journalists for responsible fisheries (REJOPRAO). From 15-23 September, the REJOPRAO organized training workshop for journalists, with the objective of focusing on responsible fisheries and related topics and issues in West Africa. Following the training, the journalists from sub region will carry out the media coverage, as observers, of CAMFA.
Since 2005, organizations representing the professionals (fishers, traders, processors and fishmongers) from the artisanal fishing sector have worked to establish a regional body to represent their interests. Earlier this year, this initiative led to the founding of CAOPA - the African Confederation of Professional Artisanal Fishery Sector Organizations.
For more information: Béatrice Gorez, Coordinator CFFA cffa.cape@scarlet.be