Europe's İnternational Fishing Deals Must İnclude Greater Transparency, NGO Group Urges

A new report from a group of environmental NGOs said that transparency failures and limited public access to critical data are just a few of several reasons why it is essential to reform the European Union's sustainable fisheries partnership agreements (SFPAs).

It is further urging the European Commission to use its new Ocean Pact to become a leader on establishing ethical and sustainable fisheries.

The E.U. IUU Fishing Coalition, comprising the NGOs Oceana, the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), The Pew Charitable Trusts, and WWF, released a paper titled “A New Generation of E.U. Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreements,” explaining that while SFPAs offer legal fishing access in exchange for support to partnering countries, these deals often fall short of the E.U.’s sustainability and human rights standards. As such, the group is insisting that key reforms to future agreements include strengthening their transparency clauses, generating more local community involvement, and disclosing all fishing activities that would occur under the deal’s framework.

E.U. IUU Fishing Coalition Coordinator Tom Walsh told SeafoodSource that current SFPAs and their accompanying protocols lack explicit provisions to actually deal with non-compliance or partial adherence to their transparency clauses. Adding these provisions, he said, could lead to the “next generation” of SFPAs that help guarantee that partner countries fully adhere to these clauses, with support provided by the E.U. when necessary.

“This is a complex issue that is currently being discussed between E.U. industry groups and civil society organizations, including several members of the E.U. IUU Coalition, within the framework of the Long Distance Advisory Council – an E.U. body that advises the Commission on its policies,” he said. “At present, there is also little information on the implementation of these ‘transparency clauses’ within, for example, the European Commission’s evaluations of SFPAs. By fixing this and including this information within public evaluations, an informed decision can be made when an agreement is renegotiated, and barriers to implementation can be properly assessed. This will turn provisions in principle into practical, effective action to remove barriers and ensure transparency in fisheries...