The Coalition for Fisheries Transparency, a coalition of civil organizations promoting transparency and accountability in fisheries governance, has added to a recent call by a number of major seafood groups pushing the U.K. to adopt the 2012 Cape Town Agreement for the Safety of Fishing Vessels, known more commonly as the Cape Town Agreement.
In May, a number of seafood groups called on the U.K. to ratify the agreement, which addresses safety onboard fishing vessels – including vessel construction and safety equipment. In 2019, 48 countries signed a public declaration that they intended to bring the Cape Town Agreement into force by October 2022, which would only happen after at least 22 member states, with a total of 3,600 fishing vessels over 24 meters in length fishing on the high seas, ratified the agreement.
Conservation organizations have accused countries of failing to follow through on the agreement for years, which currently has 23 states in agreement. However, those states do not contain enough combined fishing vessels to meet the second requirement, meaning it is still not in force.
A number of businesses and organizations, including FishWise and American Tuna, called on the U.K. to ratify the agreement during the United Nations Ocean Conference, being held in Nice, France, from 9 to 13 June, as a way of pushing the agreement closer to enforcement.
“As seafood industry businesses, it is crucial for us to ensure that fishing becomes a safer industry. The ratification of the Cape Town Agreement by flag states is a critical step to achieve this,” the businesses wrote in a letter calling for action in May.
Just under a month later, the Coalition for Fisheries Transparency has joined that effort to get the U.K. to ratify the agreement, calling on the U.K. to be one of the pivotal nations that could push the agreement into force.
“Fishing is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, but it does not have to be that way,” Steve Trent, founder and CEO of the Environmental Justice Foundation, a member of the coalition, said. “The Cape Town Agreement would put vital safeguards in place and improve oversight in an industry that is far too opaque.”
Coalition Director Maisie Pigeon said she applauds the fishing industry players for pushing for action on the subject and said the U.K. should follow through on the pledge it made to ratify the agreement in 2019.
