Access agreements, Artisanal fisheries, Governance, Transparency, Sectoral support
Anaïd Panossian
What future for Sustainable Fisheries ...

In view of the global evaluation of the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreements (SFPAs) that will be carried out by the Commission in 2021, the author highlights the key points which will need to be assessed from the perspective of the impacts on African coastal communities. The author also suggests essential improvements to be made for the future of SFPAs so that they better respond to the needs of these communities.

What future for Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreements?

Private Investments

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Why the $700 billion funding gap for biodiversity is dangerous nonsense: Implications for the oceans and small-scale fisheries

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Why the $700 billion funding gap for biodiversity is dangerous nonsense: Implications for the oceans and small-scale fisheries

Closing the funding gap for biodiversity conservation is one of the critical topics at COP 16 in October 2024. The funding gap has been estimated at $700 billion in Goal D of the Kunming-Montreal Agreement, based on a report, “Financing Nature”, published in 2020. Taking the example of fisheries and ocean conservation, this article shows the $700 billion figure is based on highly dubious calculations and assumptions. The author argues the funding gap report is not a serious effort to estimate the needs for supporting conservation efforts. Therefore, the $700 billion figure should be rejected by those opposed to the continuing financialisation of conservation.

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A CFP external dimension fit for the future: more focus on good governance, less on paying access rights for EU fleets

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A CFP external dimension fit for the future: more focus on good governance, less on paying access rights for EU fleets

The author makes 4 recommendations to make the external dimension of the CFP more effective: (1) the EU should shift from access agreements to fisheries governance agreements, while (2) continuing to support informed participation of stakeholders in third countries; (3) it should also ensure that all vessels of EU origin, including those reflagged, abide by sustainability standards; and (4) it should actively engage, at international level, to promote transparent, fair, and sustainable access arrangements applicable to all fleets of foreign origin fishing in developing countries.

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How private finance through blue bonds affects local communities: the Seychelles experience

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How private finance through blue bonds affects local communities: the Seychelles experience

Andre Standing, senior consultant at CFFA, discusses with researcher Arınç Onat Kılıç, who has recently published a paper exploring the Seychelles Blue Bond, its impact on local fishing communities and the broader implications of private finance for developing the blue economy.

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Yellow card Senegal: the fight against IUU fishing must also be waged in the coastal zone

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Yellow card Senegal: the fight against IUU fishing must also be waged in the coastal zone

At a time when the fisheries agreement is being renegotiated, Senegal is initiating a formal dialogue with the EU on the fight against IUU fishing. As part of this dialogue, the European Union has a responsibility to improve controls on vessels of European origin, and to impose heavy penalties when they fail to comply with the rules.

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Fishing at a discount? Rethinking the design of fisheries access fees in Africa

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Fishing at a discount? Rethinking the design of fisheries access fees in Africa

The author discusses the design of access fees for foreign fishing vessels in African countries and explains why these fees are low in most African nations. He also debates conditions under which industrial fishing vessels of foreign origin should be given access, or not, to African coastal countries waters, and argues for a re-think of access fees design.

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Gabon’s Odious Debt-for-ocean Swap: The implications for ocean governance

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Gabon’s Odious Debt-for-ocean Swap: The implications for ocean governance

This article covers TNC’s recent debt-for-ocean swap with Gabon, involving US$500 million worth of debt. In exchange, the Gabonese government has committed to protect up to 30% of the oceans. The author looks in detail at the deal (Part 1) and the conservation commitments (Part 2), explores the problems with this deal in terms of debt justice and of ocean governance, and develops its implications for coastal communities.

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The EU must develop fisheries specific due diligence legislation

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The EU must develop fisheries specific due diligence legislation

The Spanish presidency of the EU is seeking to finalise the negotiations for a corporate accountability directive before the end of December 2023, which would see European based companies take some degree of responsibility for what they do in third countries. We look at some key issues at stake for the third countries small scale fishers.

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Potential negotiations in sight for an EU-Angola fisheries agreement: How would existing joint ventures be treated?

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Potential negotiations in sight for an EU-Angola fisheries agreement: How would existing joint ventures be treated?

The European Commission has decided to assess the merits of concluding a Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement (SFPA) with the Republic of Angola. For a dialogue on sustainable fisheries in Angola, the EU will need to address the issue of total fishing effort and the framework within which joint ventures operate, as well as revising the presence of European-owned vessels with a bad track record.

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Financing the 30x30 agenda for the Oceans: Debt for Nature swaps should be rejected

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Financing the 30x30 agenda for the Oceans: Debt for Nature swaps should be rejected

Joint statement - In the delivering on 30x30 and financing conservation, debt for nature swaps are gaining momentum. However, debt swaps should be rejected as they lack transparency and give undue power to foreign organisations over the policies of marine resources management of developing and small-island states.

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WTO agreement on fisheries subsidies: a mouse is born

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WTO agreement on fisheries subsidies: a mouse is born

For the agreement to contribute effectively to the Sustainable Development Goals, it is essential that the forthcoming negotiations, prior to the thirteenth ministerial conference, focus on the main threat to artisanal fisheries in Africa: overfishing and overcapacity, especially by foreign-owned vessels.

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Activities of Senegalese trawlers in Liberia: the companies incriminated by CFFA, SOPERKA and PEREIRA, react

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Activities of Senegalese trawlers in Liberia: the companies incriminated by CFFA, SOPERKA and PEREIRA, react

SOPERKA, a Senegalese fishing company, in a joint venture with the Spanish company Grupo Pereira, wished to react to our article “Experimental fishing or experimental pillaging in Liberia?” Mr Kandji, Managing Director, Mr Serrano, from the company Pereira, adviser to SOPERKA for its fishing operations, and Mr Perez Bouzada, a lawyer, who defends the interests of the company Pereira, expressed their views on a series of issues raised in the article.

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UN Ocean Conference political declaration: where are the fishers?

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UN Ocean Conference political declaration: where are the fishers?

The final declaration fails to appropriately acknowledge the role and importance of the biggest group of users of the ocean, - the artisanal fishers-, while it encourages private-public partnerships, capital market instruments and other forms of financing, that might end up destroying coastal fishing communities.

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Senegal and Liberia will conduct joint fisheries research to evaluate Liberia fisheries viability. For Liberia ‘carabineros’, this may come too late

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Senegal and Liberia will conduct joint fisheries research to evaluate Liberia fisheries viability. For Liberia ‘carabineros’, this may come too late

Sponsored by the World Bank, as part of their Liberia Sustainable Management of Fisheries project worth 40 million euros, this research campaign will take advantage of the CRODT research vessel, the ITAF DEME, launched in 2021 with the EU-Senegal Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement (SFPA) sectoral support.

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Small-scale fishers call for global leaders to act now on oceans at UN Ocean Conference

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Small-scale fishers call for global leaders to act now on oceans at UN Ocean Conference

JOINT PRESS RELEASE: Small-scale fisheries are small in name only. Half a billion people – 7% of the global population – are at least partly dependent on them for food, employment and income. They are the largest group of ocean users, have contributed the least to the ocean emergency, and are among the most affected by it. Yet their needs, roles and rights are often ignored, and they are generally sidelined or excluded from major policy discussions that directly affect their lives and livelihoods.

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Certifying the unsustainable: The Fisheries Improvement Project in Mauritania

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Certifying the unsustainable: The Fisheries Improvement Project in Mauritania

The strategy of transforming seafood industry through voluntary partnerships and market-based incentives is the approach currently favoured by many environmental NGOs and donors. The case of Mauritania reduction fisheries “Fisheries Improvement Project” highlights the fundamental flaws with the corporate friendly approach and the urgent need to resist this model becoming normalised.

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The Sustainable Blue Economy Finance Initiative: How to destroy the oceans responsibly

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The Sustainable Blue Economy Finance Initiative: How to destroy the oceans responsibly

Efforts to make blue economy sustainable have led to increasing calls for better regulations on investments. The European Commission has provided funding for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to launch the Blue Economy Finance Initiative (BEFI). The BEFI has been celebrated in international conferences about blue economy, however, this article highlights the inherent weaknesses of voluntary guidelines in mitigating the threats financial investors pose to the destruction of the planet.

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Debt-for-nature swaps and the oceans: The Belize Blue Bond

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Debt-for-nature swaps and the oceans: The Belize Blue Bond

This second article of our series on financialisation and the blue economy covers TNC’s recent debt-for-ocean swap in Belize, news about TNC’s “audacious plan” of other debt swaps in other countries, the history of debt swaps and how the recent swaps reflect the financialisaton of conservation and finally, why these debt swaps are worrying for small-scale fisheries.

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Understanding the conservation finance industry

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Understanding the conservation finance industry

Financialisation is considered to be the fundamental dynamic that contributes to inequalities in the world, while also a threat to democracy because it transfers the ownership and control of so much to a small group of financial investors and institutions, with the only goal of maximising profits.

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African artisanal fisheries at the forefront of the fight against predatory and opaque industrial fishing companies

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African artisanal fisheries at the forefront of the fight against predatory and opaque industrial fishing companies

With few exceptions, the activities of these companies conceal corrupt practices that allow vessels to fish as they please without respecting ecosystem management and conservation measures, threatening the survival of local communities.