Canada, EU to collaborate on cracking down on illegal fishing
by Canadian Manufacturing.com Staff
Feds to increase cooperation by sharing more information, coordinating monitoring and enforcement
A Taiwanese-flagged boat suspected of illegal fishing off the coast of Africa. It’s estimated 30 per cent of the global catch is fished illegally.
BRUSSELS, Belgium—Canada and the European Union have agreed to collaborate on taking on illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
With an estimated 30 per cent of the global catch coming from unsanctioned fishing of the world’s oceans, the two regions signed the joint statement, agreeing to better-share information as well as coordinate monitoring and enforcement activities more closely.
“The world has to step up and join together to protect our oceans and our fisheries,” Hunter Tootoo, Canada’s minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, said. “We cannot afford to turn a blind eye to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, nor can we try to address it on our own.
“It is a global problem and it needs global solutions,” Tootoo added.
Penning the agreement during the global Seafood Expo in Brussels, Belgium, the Canadian government said illegal fishing can devastate the environment, harm legitimate fisheries and threaten the sustainability of fish stocks worldwide.
Illegal fishing drains an estimated US$10 billion to $23 billion from the global economy annually.
