The European Union (E.U.) is facing a backlash from Korean fishermens organizations over its Nov. 26 decision to preliminarily add the country to its illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing (IUUF) list.
The Korea Overseas Fisheries Association (KOFA), a group of operators of fishing vessels in international waters, claimed the E.U. applied a double standard when blacklisting countries.
The association criticized the E.U. for keeping mum about China, saying its decision came partly because Korean fishing boats compete with Spanish ones in seas off West Africa.
I dont think the E.U.s measure is rational at all, although its true we have performed IUUF activities, a KOFA spokesman said on condition of anonymity in a telephone interview with The Korea Times, Wednesday.
The ministry has been making efforts to cope with the unions requirements, and it is inappropriate to blacklist a country without giving it sufficient time to meet the demands, the spokesman said.
The KOFA official said Chinese fishing boats have also been engaged in a number of IUUF activities but the E.U. is taking a lenient attitude.
On Nov. 26, the Ministry of Ocean and Fisheries (MOF) said the EU preliminarily included the country on its IUUF list for a delay in setting up tracking devices on fishing boats.
The ministry said since 2010, the E.U. has been demanding Korea equip its fishing boats operating in distant waters with vessel monitoring systems (VMS). It has also asked Seoul to set up a fisheries monitoring center (FMC) that oversees activities of vessels equipped with VMS through a satellite network.
Under a revised E.U. law on deep-sea fishing in July this year, all vessels engaged in overseas fishing must be equipped with a VMS starting in July next year. The National Assembly approved a bill in July to require the ministry and Korean fishing boats to respectively set up an FMc and install VMS by mid-2014.
Sunkyung Corp., located in the seaport city of Busan, also raised questions about the E.U. decision.
The firm leads a group of vessel operators engaged in fishing activities in seas off West Africa.
A number of our crew members have seen Chinese vessels engaging in various kinds of IUUF activities such as overfishing, illegal entry into the territorial waters of Liberia and other countries in nearby regions, said Jeon Il-bae, the director of the firm.
KoreaTimes.co.kr