Bernama 15 May 09;
KUALA LUMPUR, May 15 (Bernama) -- The European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union (EU), and the Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-Based Industries will host a seminar on May 18 for local policy makers, stakeholders and authorities in the fisheries industry to address illegal,unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
"IUU fishing is a world-wide phenomenon with disastrous environmental and socio-economic impact,threatening the sustainable exploitation of living aquatic resources and marine biodiversity.
"It also has serious overall consequences for coastal countries like Malaysia who lose out on marine resources to illegal operators," the Ambassador and Head of Delegation of the European Commission to Malaysia, Vincent Piket said in a statement here today.
He also said developing countries paid a particularly high price for illegal fishing as their stocks are depleted by unlawful operators.
According to Piket, the loss of resources means a loss of revenue for the coastal states, with legitimate fishermen facing an unfair price competition from illegal operators who also rob them of their livelihood.
"The EU has been active in the fight against illegal fishing for over a decade. However, the results achieved at the international level has not succeeded in reducing the scope of illegal fishing," he said.
For that reason, he explained, the EU had adopted the IUU Regulation to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal fishing and it will come into force on Jan 1, 2010.
Prior to the formal adoption of this regulation, the EU was assisting non-EU countries with its implementation.
"The seminar will help Malaysian authorities adhere to the regulation. We are hopeful that it will also better equip them to address illegal fishing," Piket said.
The EU is also organising a similar seminar in other Asian countries as part of the information campaign for non-EU countries.
