HALIEUTIQUE MER ET LITTORAL

Developing countries are losing billions of dollars due to illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, which siphons off revenue through illicit financial flows, according to a new study by the Financial Transparency Coalition (FTC).

The study reveals that the top 10 companies involved in IUU fishing are responsible for nearly a quarter of all reported cases: eight are from China – led by Nasdaq-listed Pingtan Marine Enterprise Ltd – one is from Colombia and another from Spain.

More than a hundred miles from shore, near the coast of West Africa, I accompanied marine police officers from Gambia as they arrested 15 foreign ships on charges of labor violations and illegal fishing over the course of a week in 2019. All but one of the vessels arrested were from China.

At the beginning of that same year, during a monthlong voyage on a toothfish longliner headed into Antarctic waters from Punta Arenas, Chile, the only other ships we passed were a dozen rusty Chinese purse seiners—fishing boats using long curtainlike nets—that looked barely seaworthy.

The Spanish authorities have handed out fines totalling five million Euros to six companies and six individuals investigated under Operation Sparrow 2.

Six companies were fined a total of €2.45 million, and and additional €2.88 million in fines were imposed on six persons who are believed to have been involved in operating Viking and Seabull 22, both of which had been engaged in poaching in CCAMLR waters.

Un nouveau rapport suggère que la flotte de pêche chinoise qui a pêché au chalut au large des îles Galápagos en Équateur au cours des derniers mois pêchait illégalement dans les eaux territoriales du pays, ce qui a suscité une nouvelle recherche de solutions régionales pour lutter contre ces pratiques de pêche illégales..

Ecuador stood up for the Galápagos, but other countries don’t stand a chance against the 17,000-strong distant-water fleet