The Coalition for Fisheries Transparency (CFT) has taken the opportunity of the International Day for the Fight against IUU Fishing (5th June) to urge the APPG on Fisheries to fully include the implementation of the Global Charter for Fisheries Transparency in its Action Plan for a Thriving and Sustainable UK Fishing Industry.
The CFT states that UK waters are not free from IUU fishing, as serious occurrences of illegal fishing and human rights violations of crew operating in British waters have been reported in recent years. To tackle this, the CFT is calling on the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Fisheries to ensure that transparency and accountability are at the heart of the national Action Plan it is currently developing. This is vital for the UK to lead in the fight against IUU fishing nationally and globally.
‘The UK has currently implemented two out of ten principles of the Global Charter for Fisheries for Fisheries Transparency. The APPG on Fisheries’ Action Plan is an opportunity to call for the UK to go further, in particular on beneficial ownership information, seafood traceability, transparency of activity information, and remote electronic monitoring (REM) of fishing vessels,’ said CFT UK Coordinator Vivien Deloge, commenting that the Global Charter for Fisheries Transparency will help ensure transparent, equitable, and well-governed fisheries, free from harmful fishing practices and human rights and labour abuses, for the benefit of people and the ocean.
‘The UK is importing over a quarter of its seafood imports from the worst offending countries for illegal fishing, yet critical border checks on these imports are at record lows. The UK must urgently strengthen and increase scrutiny of the seafood it imports if the UK is to avoid becoming a dumping ground for fish tainted by illegal fishing and human rights abuses,’ said Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) CEO Steve Trent.
‘The public deserve to know that the seafood they are buying is not the product of environmental destruction or bonded, forced and slave labour. Fisheries transparency is the key to establishing who has caught what, when, where, and how – without it we cannot give consumers that assurance nor hold bad actors to account.’
