'People have the right to know how much is paid, how much is fished, how and by whom'

Isabella Lovin, Sweden International Cooperation Minister, is interviewed by Jedna Deida. It has been published on Mauriweb Info http://mauriweb.info/node/1549

You just ended a visit to Mauritania. You met Mauritanian high authorities. Can you tell us what has been discussed?

Yes, I visited Mauritania to attend the FiTI conference, where I was invited as a key note speaker, due to my long time engagement in sustainable fisheries. Of course I also met with members of the government and the President, discussing Swedish-Mauritanian relations. We have a common interest in sustainable fisheries, and we were also discussing more broadly on sustainable development, the importance of fight against corruption and the importance of transparency, as well as the freedom of the press.

What do think about the FiTI Conference and what can be expected from all fisheries partners to improve FiTi’s achievements?

I think it is excellent that Mauritania is taking the lead in this Fisheries Transparency initiative, that now important fishing countries such as Indonesia and Senegal have joined. What has now to be developed are the technical FiTI standards and I expect the transparency will be needed in at least three areas: on payments, on catches and on tenure arrangements. The public has the right to know how much is being paid, how much is being fished, how and by whom.

What would be the concrete benefits of transparency in African fisheries when it comes to the activities of industrial fishing in our waters?

It is greatly important for two reasons. First of all to fight corruption. By publishing all fisheries access agreements, the terms and the IMO numbers of boats involved, civil society and free media can hold their governments accountable. Secondly, it is essential to conserve the marine resources. Full transparency on catches is needed to make stock assessments, and it is important for local populations and local fishermen that should have priority access to the fish. It’s only if there is a surplus not needed by local fishermen, that any fishing should be allowed for foreign fleets.

Do you think an initiative like the FiTI will live up to our expectations?

It depends on all the stakeholders that are engaged. It's too early to tell.

What is needed to ensure it doesn't become just a 'whitewashing' exercise for African governments, to attract more foreign investments without changing their opaque behaviors?

What is needed is true commitment by governments and full engagement of civil society actors and organisations. It is also important to keep in mind that governments actually are gaining from committing to transparency and long term sustainability. For the EU, a condition for signing fisheries agreements is that EU only negotiates for a surplus of fish, not needed by local populations. Then countries need to publish all their agreements if they want a fisheries agreement with the EU. This is what we changed with the new EU Common Fisheries Policy.

As a European Parliamentarian, you have been one of the most involved fighter to defend responsible and sustainable fishing on the African coast. Now, as Sweden Minister of international cooperation, what can you promote to help fishermen in Africa?

Sweden is engaged in a number of ways, supporting fisheries research and capacity building in Africa. We see that fisheries is an important source of livelihood for millions of people and also that fish is an important source of proteins - it is all too important to be destroyed by overfishing. Therefore we now include sustainable management of fisheries in our regional cooperation strategy for Africa.

The European Parliament echoes the concerns regarding the lack of transparency in the EU-Mauritius FPA and protocol : the EU Delegation in Mauritius gives some answers

A new FPA and its protocol were signed between EU and Mauritius in February 2012. The final ratification has not occurred yet but criticisms are rising regarding this agreement. A number of organizations linked to the fishery sector in Mauritius expressed their worries on the way the negociations of the FPA and the protocol were conducted. They condemn in particular the lack of transparency and lack of public consultations of stakeholders, which would be in contradiction with the Aarhus convention. The EU delegation in Mauritius issued a press release which answers partially to these concerns. It is said that the fishworkers’ trade union was indeed consulted as all the stakeholders to the agreement. Others meeting were also organized with the Delegation and fishworkers organizations, as well as a meeting in may 2012. It is reminded that the FPA is a commercial agreement and therefore some informations regarding the partner country shall remain confidential.

Regarding the matter of stocks overexploitation, the fishing opportunities are based on the best scitific advices and management recommendations suggested by the scientific committee of the IOTC and the latest report says that none of the stocks targeted by the EU fleet are overexploited. Besides, one of the objectives of the protocol is to avoid any conflicts between the industrial fleets and small scale fisheries. The species targetted by the EU fleets are not the one landed by the small scale fisheries. It is emphasized that the fish is not sold off by the EU and that the aim of the financial compensation is to help developping the fishery sector in Mauritius, taking economic governance and fisheries sustainability into account.

Sources:

• Parliamentary question : http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides...

• Press release of the EU Delegation in Mauritius (in French) :http://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/m...

EC will publish FPA evaluations

In response to CFFA publication and letter on access to FPA evaluations, the EC announced that ’from now on, all reports should be non-classified and we should properly ensure their dissemination, including their publication on the Internet. At the same time, the Commission services will endeavour to ensure that evaluations reports are available before the adoption of negotiating mandates by the Council’.

This was a long standing demand from CFFA, and we welcome this step for more transparency!

However, we still regret that the EC is not open to a wide consultation of Civil Society organisations, as it underlines being ’cautious in initiating a process of open consultation as it would change the nature of the evaluation and lead to a large extent the process being "out of control".

Read the full response by the EC.

Availability of fishing licenses lists: Gabon

CFFA welcomes the steps taken by the republic of Gabon to make available to the public the lists of fishing vessels licensed in 2008/2009.

We encourage all ACP countries to take such steps. Moreover, we would like to highlight the importance for ACP countries to publish an update of these lists, so that real time data about fishing vessels licensed can be accessed by the public and third countries authorities, partners for sustainable fisheries development.

In particular, in the context of the fight against IUU fishing, the availability of updated lists of fishing vessels licensed in ACP countries is a key element for collaboration between coastal states -ACP countries in this case- and market states -such as the EU- to help efficient action to be taken in order to stop the trade of illegally caught fish.