illegal fishing

EU removes warning from Thailand for its actions against illegal fishing

The European Commission delisted Thailand from the group of “warned countries” as recognition of the progress it has made in tackling illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.

The Commission acknowledged that Thailand has successfully addressed the lacks in its fisheries legal and administrative systems. For this reason it lifts the so-called “yellow card”, in place since April 2015, a warning from the EU that the country at that time was not sufficiently tackling illegal, unreported and...

https://safety4sea.com/eu-removes-warning-from-thailand-for-its-actions-against-illegal-fishing/

Liberia arrests cargo ship for illegal fish trade

On Christmas, the Liberian Coast Guard, assisted by Sea Shepherd crew, arrested the Chinese-flagged (M/V) Hai Feng 823, a refrigerated cargo vessel, with a history of illegal fishing. The ship tried to offload a cargo of transshipped fish in the West African port of Monrovia.

Transshipment is transferring fish from one vessel to another to obscure the origin of the illegally-caught fish and the M/V Hai Feng 823 had previously transshipped with two other arrested vessels.

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https://safety4sea.com/liberia-arrests-cargo-ship-for-illegal-fish-trade/

Captain sentenced 20 years for shark finning in Tanzania

The owner and captain of the Malaysian-flagged fishing vessel ‘Buah Naga 1’, that was boarded and arrested by Tanzanian law enforcement agents as part of Operation Jodari, have pleaded guilty to the charge of Unlawful Possession of Shark Fins in a plea agreement with Tanzanian prosecutors, Sea Shepherd informed.

The arrest took place as part of the Operation Jodari, a joint partnership between NGO Sea Shepherd, Fish-i Africa and the government of Tanzania to combat illegal, unreported and...

https://safety4sea.com/captain-sentenced-20-years-for-shark-finning-in-tanzania/

Global Fishing Watch, USCG start research to tackle illegal fishing

Global Fishing Watch will collaborate with the US Coast Guard Research & Development Center (CG RDC) to perform research on illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and share analysis to enhance global efforts to improve fisheries management.

Global Fishing Watch and CG RDC will establish analytical methodologies to evaluate open-source vessel movement data, catch data and satellite imagery, to promote international understanding on IUU fishing and its impacts.

This cooperation aspires...

https://safety4sea.com/global-fishing-watch-uscg-start-research-to-tackle-illegal-fishing/

Ten principles for global transparency in fishing industry

The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) issued ten basic principles for states to follow in a bid to achieve transparency in global fisheries, a sector which has been at the centre of numerous human rights violations and for illegal fishing practices which pose a significant threat to the world’s ecosystems.

The ten simple principles are the following:

  1. Give all vessels a unique number: Like cars number plates, but these would stay with vessels from shipyard to scrapyard, regardless of name or...

https://safety4sea.com/ten-principles-for-global-transparency-in-fishing-industry/

Taiwan urged to ensure bigger transparency in fishing sector

In a new investigation, the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) has reported several illegal fishing practices and human rights violations related to Taiwanese vessels. As such, the NGO is calling for Taiwan to sign up to the ten principles for fisheries transparency and for immediate action to be taken to investigate and prosecute vessels and companies alleged to be involved in illegal fishing and human rights abuses.

The EJF spoke to Indonesian crew members from five longline vessels...

https://safety4sea.com/taiwan-urged-to-ensure-bigger-transparency-in-fishing-sector/

Thailand to be first in Asia to ratify ILO’s Work in Fishing Convention

Thailand is set become the first country in Asia to ratify the Work in Fishing Convention C188, which sets basic standards of decent work in the fishing industry. On 29 November, Thailand’s National Legislative Assembly approved the Ministry of Labour’s proposal to proceed with the ratification of the International Labour Organization (ILO) Work in Fishing Convention No. 188, 2007 (C188).

This came despite some earlier obstructive attempts by some sections of the fisheries industry to derail the...

https://safety4sea.com/thailand-to-be-first-in-asia-to-ratify-ilos-work-in-fishing-convention/

US Court upholds ban on Mexican seafood imports dangerous for Vaquita

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit decided to uphold a preliminary order implementing a federal law that requires a ban on seafood imported from Mexico’s Upper Gulf of California and caught with gillnets that drown the vaquita porpoise.

The Earth’s most endangered marine mammals, vaquita porpoises, has won a battle against extinction. A third U.S. court decision kept in place the four-month-old ban on importing Mexican shrimp and other seafood caught with gillnets that drown the...

https://safety4sea.com/us-court-upholds-ban-on-mexican-seafood-imports-dangerous-for-vaquita/

US Court sentences former captain for interfering with USCG inspection

A Boston federal court sentenced the former captain of the ‘Bulldog’, a New Bedford based commercial fishing vessel for interfering with a US Coast Guard inspection of a fishing boat off the Massachusetts coast.

Thomas D. Simpson, 57, of South Portland, Maine, was sentenced to two years of probation, with the first four months to be served in home confinement with electronic monitoring and ordered to pay a $15,000 fine. In August 2018, Simpson pleaded guilty to one count of destruction or...

https://safety4sea.com/us-court-sentences-former-captain-for-interfering-with-uscg-inspection/

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