Spain has a new fisheries law which imposes stronger penalties on Spanish citizens involved in pirate fishing anywhere in the world.
The new Spanish fisheries law 33/2014 is the Spanish translation into legislation of the EU’s illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing regulation, which requires all member states to take action against any IUU fishing activities undertaken by individuals or companies.
Now, The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), Oceana, The Pew Charitable Trusts and WWF have called on other member states to follow suit.
“The lack of will by member states to put in place laws that target those getting rich from illegal fishing has been a serious obstacle to the EU’s effectiveness to tackle this problem,” said Maria José Cornax, fisheries campaign manager, Oceana.
WWF pointed to the recent example of vessels being investigated for pirate fishing in the Southern Ocean, New Zealand, as being an important example as to why other countries need to follow Spain’s example.
In the past, two of these vessels have been linked with Spanish based syndicate Vidal Armadores SA, a family owned company in north western Spain that has been linked to more than 40 case of alleged illegal fishing.
The new law will enable Spain to take action against this company if illegal fishing activities can be proved. It will also enable the country to take action against fishing vessels under flags of convenience or those owned or operated by ‘shell’ companies in tax havens.
