The United States has, for the first time, filed a complaint against South Korea for illegal, unreported, or unregulated (IUU) fishing under environmental rules of a free trade agreement between the two countries.
The complaint is a request for environment consultations under the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS) by the United States Trade Representative (USTR). Under KORUS, Korea is obligated to fulfill obligations to the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), which the country has failed to do so, according to the USTR.
The compliant comes in the wake of the 2019 National Marine Fisheries Service “Improving International Fisheries Management” report, which identified the Republic of Korea “for failing to apply sufficient sanctions to deter its vessels from engaging in fishing activities that violate conservation and management measures adopted by an international fishery management organization.”
“Records from CCAMLR, as well as information provided to CCAMLR and the United States by the Republic of Korea, indicate that two vessels flagged to Korea violated CCAMLR conservation and management measures in 2017 and that Korea did not take effective actions to address the violations,” the report states. “According to CCAMLR records and information provided by the Republic of Korea, in December 2017, the Korean fishing vessels Southern Ocean and Hong Jin No. 701 set longline gear within 24 hours of a notified fishery closure, in violation of CCAMLR Conservation Measure CM 31-02.”
The report goes on to detail that Korea did take some actions against the vessels, but the country failed to address monetary or other sanctions against the vessel owners or operators, and the catch was never confiscated.
In addition to the rebuke from the USTR, several Korean and international NGOs called on South Korea to undertake reforms, including the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition, the Environmental Justice Foundation, Greenpeace Seoul, Oceana, the World Wildlife Fund, Korea’s Citizen’s Institute for Environmental Studies, and the Korea Federation for Environmental movements.
This isn’t the first time that the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) has criticized South Korea’s handling of seafood. A year-long investigation by the EJF in 2018 found that mislabeling was common across several key seafood species.
The NGOs, in the wake of the NMFS report and USTR rebuke, have made several recommendations, including reforming Korean laws for more rapid sanctions against IUU, commit to increasing transparency in the sector, establishing regulatory cooperation with the industry, and undertake an urgent review of how the country handles CCAMLR.
“Urgent changes to the country’s sanctioning scheme are needed for authorities to quickly tackle IUU fishing cases,” the EJF said in a release.
Photo courtesy of the Environmental Justice Foundation
