At a recent meeting between European and Chinese officials, a European fisheries representative complimented China’s ability to crack down on illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing activities, drawing criticism from other European officials, especially as the bloc has taken action to limit rampant Chinese IUU actions.
Virginijus Sinkevičius, the commissioner for the environment, oceans, and fisheries at the European Commission, “commended China’s outstanding efforts in cracking down on IUU fishing,” saying that the E.U. “hopes to continue working closely with China to promote the sustainable development of global fisheries,” according to a statement issued by China’s agriculture ministry after a meeting between Sinkevičius and Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Vice Minister Ma Youxiang.
Youxiang echoed Sinkevičius’s comments, stating that “the E.U. and China share a consensus view on fisheries and that China hopes to work with the E.U. to make good use of the E.U.-China Blue Partnership, the China-E.U. High-Level Dialogue on Fisheries, and the China-E.U. Working Group on IUU Fishing.”
The two met in Shenzhen for the second meeting of the E.U.-China Blue Partnership Forum for the Oceans. The Chinese ministry credited Sinkevičius as saying that China and the E.U. have made “remarkable strides in exchanging expertise and cooperating under the framework of the High-Level Dialogue on Fisheries and the Working Group on IUU Fishing.”
Asked to provide an example of what Sinkevičius might have meant by “China’s outstanding efforts in cracking down on IUU fishing,” a spokesperson for the E.U. Commission told SeafoodSource that “it is not the Commission’s practice to comment on other people’s and institutions’ comments – or in this case a press release – so we have nothing to say on the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture’s press release.”
Joining Sinkevičius at the Shenzhen event was Daniel Voces de Onaíndi, the managing director of E.U. fisheries industry lobbying group Europêche, who sat on a panel focused on international ocean governance. Regarding the comments attributed to Sinkevičius, Voces believes that “it must be a misquote … at least during the conference, he appreciated the efforts and the open dialogue, but ‘outstanding effort’ is too much and still far from reality.”
Voces said he was particularly vexed by the comments because the European Parliament has recently called and campaigners have long called for sanctions on Chinese fishing products exported to the E.U. due to a high incidence rate of IUU activity in the Chinese fleet – a move backed by Europêche. The new fisheries control rules the European Parliament approved in late October will most likely accomplish just that, as they include more intense monitoring and transparency requirements that could limit Chinese exports coming into the E.U.
Further, several non-governmental organizations named the E.U.’s unwillingness to apply its carding system to China despite the fact it has applied to other nations, including Cameroon and Vietnam, for their inaction on tackling IUU activities is a key weakness of the bloc’s efforts against curbing Chinese IUU actions. Dyhia Belhabib, the executive director of the Nautical Crime Investigation Services, said nations with low levels of trade with the E.U. are the only ones being effectively punished.
“Every single country that was effectively red carded had low trade levels with the E.U. The E.U. cannot afford to twist China’s arm,” Belhabib said. An expert on IUU and fishery access agreements, Belhabib said her research shows 60 percent of illegal fish originating from West African waters, where China’s distant-water fleet is highly active, ends up on E.U. plates.
“There is a huge level of competition between the E.U. and China, and limiting the market means limiting the competition,” Belhabib said. “It is in essence great to limit access to IUU products, but why not simply yellow card China? I believe this is a double standard. It is also hard to implement given that beneficial ownership is not a simple straight line in many cases, and diversion strategies are the problem.”
Voces said his organization has similarly raised the prospect of applying the E.U.’s card system to Chinese imports with E.U. officials. In a press statement after his Shenzhen trip, he said the E.U. cannot “allow a situation where it opens its doors to products of questionable origin and practices while burdening its own industry with rigorous sustainability requirements and controls.”
Photo courtesy of European Commission
