The European Commission has welcomed the decisions taken by the South East Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (SEAFO), at its annual meeting last week in Windhoek, Namibia. The Parties agreed to a considerable strengthening of measures against Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing through a reinforced port state control system, including enhanced procedures for in-port inspection of vessels fishing in the SEAFO area, the implementation, on a quasi-automatic basis, of black lists of IUU vessels established by CCAMLR, NAFO and NEAFC, thus prohibiting such vessels from operating in SEAFO waters. Commissioner for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs Joe Borg commented, " SEAFO’s decision to close the ports of its members to pirate vessels will make it more and more difficult for those involved to conduct their unlawful operations. All Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs) must be encouraged to adopt similar measures, so that market access on which these criminal operators depend is effectively cut off." SEAFO took further steps to protect vulnerable marine habitats by setting the conditions to be met before any or all of the 10 closed areas, agreed in 2006, to protect vulnerable seamounts may be reopened. Moreover, on the basis of a report from the Scientific Committee, SEAFO was also able for the first time to adopt measures fixing catch limits for two of the main species in the Convention area, namely Red Crab and Patagonian toothfish. The European Commission will, next week, propose a raft of measures to fight IUU fishing including substantial strengthening of port state control measures within the EU.
