Illegal fishing: scramble around the red card of the European Union

Miscommunication was made about the red card given to the country by the European Union Commission, creating misunderstanding of the decision, say experts.

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In January 2023, the European Commission awarded a “ Red card” in Cameroon. It has indeed decided to classify the country on the black list made up of six other countries qualified as “uncooperative” in the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. The country had therefore been presented as a supporter of illegal fishing activities. Especially since the European Commissioner for Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkervicius, had criticized the Cameroonian authorities for having ” continued to register fishing vessels operating outside its waters without any monitoring of their activities ».

But the actors of the sector explain that it was not a decision on the complacency of Cameroon vis-à-vis illegal fishing. What was decried, they explain, was the weakness of Cameroon’s action against this scourge for reasons of insufficient technological means to carry out controls. « Many comments have been made around this red card, but it must be understood that this card is simply an alarm bell concerning some weaknesses that Cameroon has with regard to the control of fishing practiced by boats flying the Cameroonian flag. », explains Dr Joseph Yepka, Deputy Director of Fisheries at Minepia. To be more concrete, he adds that “There are boats which have our flag and which practice fishing outside our waters in third countries and we have some difficulty in controlling these boats. However, they are in our pavilion and therefore we answer for them. So it is this weakness in the ability to control these boats outside our waters that is indexed. So it’s not really strictly speaking the fact that Cameroon is a country that practices IUU fishing or that lends the flank. ».

For some NGOs, Cameroon has been the victim of misinformation.“ There was no clear communication from the Cameroonian media. The articles that we had to find online at the national level were just relays of the articles that were published internationally. But at the local level, we have not had any investigations carried out on the subject by journalists. “, underlines Younoussa Abossouka, representing EJF Cameroon.

The red card should lead to the exclusion of Cameroon from the European seafood market. But in reality, this ban on fishery products does not change much. Because the country does not export seafood products to Europe for reasons of non-compliance with health rules. This decision still affects his notoriety.

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