Three illegal fishing vessels - the Five Star, Marcia 777 and the Kum Myeong 2 - have fled Sierra Leone, escaping fines for doing illegal fishing and transhipment in the country's Inshore Exclusion Zone, IEZ.
The disclosure was made yesterday by the Project Coordinator of Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), Andy Hickman at a press briefing held at the conference room of the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources.
He intimated newsmen that another vessel, the Ocean 3, also left the country's waters without paying the entirety of the fine levied against them, noting that fines of almost $300,000 have already been collected.
He said the past six months have witnessed an extraordinary crackdown by the government on illegal fishing in the IEZ and has resulted in the arrest or expulsion of all known illegal trawlers from the country.
"We are witnessing a potentially transformative moment in fisheries enforcement in West Africa. In Sierra Leone, we operate a community surveillance patrol vessel to document evidence of illegal trawler activity within the IEZ reserved for artisanal fishers," he said.
In his response, Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Dr. Soccoh Kabia thanked EJF for working tirelessly to curtail illegal fishing in the country.
He noted that illegal fishing is one of the challenges facing the sector, and that the country is losing some $30 million annually as a result of this.
"We are putting mechanisms in place to curtail it," the minister assured. "One of the things we have done is the creation of the Joint Maritime Committee (JMC), which comprises all stakeholders in the sector. We will introduce a monitoring system known as VMS for all fishing vessels."
On the illegal vessels that have fled the country, Dr. Kabia revealed that they are working with regional and international partners to hold the Five Star, Marcia 777 and the Kum Myeong 2 to account. The minister also disclosed that a total of Le13.7 billion was generated by his ministry in 2011, and that $158,000 has so far been collected this year on fines.
Story courtesy of AllAfrica
This successful action by the Leonese government may just help bring further action in combating the huge legalised fishing operation currently being exploited by some of the biggest trawlers in the world - all managed by the PFA - here's an update from Greenpeace:
"The Arctic Sunrise is still in the waters of Mauritania, and
yes, the old Atlantic Dawn is one of the Pelagic Freezer Trawler Association's
fleet, which is "legally" decimating fish stocks in West Africa,
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| When Celestino saw the amount of mackerel landed by one man from a 16' punt, he peered down at the boat wanting to know where the rest of the crew were hiding - too many fish for one man to catch he said! |
and
destroying the livelihoods and communities of fishermen like Issa, Karim and
Celestino who came to Newlyn last year."
More recently, Looe fisherman Andy Giles joined a small fleet of dugout boats and witnessed first hand the apparently devastating effect that super-sized trawlers have on inshore stocks - although, of course, it could just be climate change that is forcing these shoals of fish that have been around for centuries to swim elsewhere.
Study this recent article in the Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/18/uk-west-africa-fishing-quotas
Karim Sall is quoted.
As posted yesterday, Greenpeace have recently published a report
showing how EU taxpayer money is used to support the European factory trawlers
operating in West Africa. It's a perverse situation - in these times of
austerity, our taxes are enabling destructive vessels to strip the waters of
West Africa, yet, back at home, our small scale fishermen are struggling to
survive under the mismanagement of the the broken CFP. Fisheries Minister, Bradshaw is currently involved in moves to reduce the fishing effort through legalising EU fishing vessels to fish elsewhere in the world.