With 46 000 km of coastline (more than the periphery of the earth), the Mediterranean Sea is a semi-enclosed sea surrounded by the highest number of countries. To protect the over-exploited fish stocks in the region, as well as the thousands of coastal livelihoods that depend on its marine resources, countries from all shores are collaborating to curb illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, a Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) statement reads Saturday.
Indeed, IUU fishing creates unfair competition with small-scale fishers that abide by the regulations, threatening the food security and livelihoods of entire coastal communities.
Seventy-five percent of fish stocks are currently overfished in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Nonetheless, according to the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) management strategy evaluation work (a model that forecasts how fish stocks react over time to management measures following the GFCM’s management plans) these fish stocks could recover if IUU fishing is eliminated.
Under the framework of the GFCM, the European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA) is working with inspectors from Albania, Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Libya, Montenegro, Tunisia and Ukraine to ensure that inspections at sea are consistent across the region.
To this end, Tunisia, where the fishing sector counts at least 12,000 ships, ensures about 70,000 direct and indirect jobs and accounts for about 13% of agricultural exports, is endeavouring to counter illegal fishing at the national and regional levels.
The country has already received from Japan surveillance vessels to monitor the shores and others for scientific research and vocational training in this field.
“The role of inspections in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea is critical to ensure compliance with fisheries rules. The GFCM is developing an international joint surveillance and inspection scheme across the Mediterranean and the Black Sea to train national inspectors and enhance the access and exchange of information and data in the region.”
EFCA has chartered an offshore patrol vessel, the Lundy Sentinel, that supports the deployment and exchange of inspectors from various countries and thus enhances the compliance, capacity building and exchange of best practices in real operational situations in the field.
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the exploration of new methods of control including the use of remote electronic monitoring, reinforcing the electronic logbook (ERS) and the use of new technologies as fishing gear sensors and marking through dedicated pilot actions. Using these new control methods, the number of inspections and sightings reported and transmitted to the GFCM Secretariat has continued to increase.
To complement EFCA’s practical trainings, and in line with the commitments taken in the Malta MedFish4Ever Ministerial Declaration, the GFCM provides trainings on international law and GFCM decisions on monitoring, control and surveillance to continue to build the capacity of inspectors in the fight against IUU fishing.
In 2022, a virtual training academy for fisheries inspectors will be open to Mediterranean countries to further support comprehensive and harmonious inspections at sea.
Source: TAP News Agency