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EU Fisheries Policy in
West Africa
Ecological and Legal
Considerations
Prepared for the Wadham College Research Forum, October 2006
Copyright Milan Ilnyckyj, 2006.
Outline
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Background on the agreements
Effect of the agreements
International law
EU law
Adherence of fleet practice
Suggestions
1. Background on
the agreements
Cash-for-access, subsidies,
and industrial fishing
Sat photo of West Africa
Maritime boundaries
• 200nm of EEZ
• 12nm of
contiguous zone
• 12nm of territorial
waters
African states in question
• States:
– Angola, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea,
Mauritania, Senegal, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea,
Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, Cape Verde,
and Cote D’Ivoire
• Total population: 60 million
• Mean GDP per capita: $1,532
• Mean GDP per capita (PPP): $2,642
EU states
• States:
– Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands,
Germany, Denmark, Ireland, United Kingdom,
Greece, Portugal, Spain, Austria, Finland,
Sweden, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia,
Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland,
Slovakia, Slovenia
• Total population: 461 million
• Mean GDP per capita: US$28,100
2. Effect of the
Agreements
Ecological, economic, and
nutritional
•
Declining local and regional stocks
lead to fishing ever farther afield
•
This process is worsened by
subsidies that make it economical
for individual vessels to fish in
situations where it would not be
otherwise
•
Source: Alder, Jacqueline and Ussif
Sumaila. “Western Africa: A Fish
Basket of Europe Past and Present.”
Journal of Environment &
Development. 2 June 2004. p. 156178.
Statistical trends
• Significant biomass decline since
1960: 92% loss in NW Africa
• Total loss of West African fish stocks
of approximately 50% since industrial
exploitation began
• Correlated to protein deficiency
rates
International Symposium on
West African Fisheries
• Consensus statement:
– “the biomass of bottom fishes has
strongly declined, and that this is due
beyond reasonable doubt to the
impact of fishing”
– “present demersal fish biomass in the
countries of the sub-region are well
below levels that allow sustained high
catches”
International Symposium on
West African Fisheries (II)
• “demersal fisheries of the sub-region
are so low as to render them highly
sensitive to environmental effects”
• “sub-regional and international
cooperation through… has
established these facts clearly and
unambiguously”
International Symposium on
West African Fisheries (III)
• Recommendations:
– “Overall fishing effort in the sub-region must
be strongly reduced”
– “We are aware of the socio-economic
implications of such reduction [of fishing
effort], but there is no doubt that this is
necessary”
– Greater study and monitoring is required
“[T]hroughout western Africa… marine
resources are often the remaining source
of long-term sustained economic growth,
as well as a source of cheap protein,
especially where there is high population
growth.”
Alder and Sumaila, Journal of Environment
and Development
Relative benefits
•
Source: Kaczynski, Vlad and David
Fluharty. “European policies in West
Africa: who benefits from fisheries
agreements?” Marine Policy. 26.
2003. p. 75-93
Relative costs
•
Source: Kaczynski, Vlad and David Fluharty. “European policies in West
Africa: who benefits from fisheries agreements?” Marine Policy. 26. 2003. p.
75-93
Summary
• Current policy contributes to
malnourishment and protein deficiency
• Increased pressure on terrestrial resources
• Reduced possibilities for economic
development
• Also, the long-term destruction of marine
fisheries
3. International Law
Requirements under
UNCLOS and other statutes
General principle of
sustainability
• Sustainability and environmental
cooperation are “guiding principles” of
UNCLOS
• All states in question have ratified
UNCLOS
• Also an established component of
international customary law
UN Convention on the Law
of the Sea
• Part V, Article 61(3) of UNCLOS provides:
– [The coastal State] taking into account the
best scientific evidence available to it, shall
ensure through proper conservation and
management measures that the
maintenance of the living resources in the
exclusive economic zone is not endangered
by over-exploitation. As appropriate, the
coastal State and competent international
organizations, whether subregional, regional
or global, shall cooperate to this end.
ICJ Advisory Opinion on the
Legality of Nuclear
Weapons
• “the environment is not an abstraction but
represents the living space, the quality of life
and the very health of human beings,
including generations unborn. The existence
of the general obligation of states to ensure
that activities within their jurisdiction and
control respect the environment of other
states or of areas beyond national control is
now part of the corpus of international law
relating to the environment.”
4. EU Law
Cooperation with
developing states
1992 Maastricht Treaty
• Article 130u of Title XVII “commit[s]
[the] EU to ensure that relations with
developing nations should help to
reduce poverty and promote
sustainable development.”
1997 Amsterdam Treaty
• Community policy on the environment shall aim at a
high level of protection taking into account the
diversity of situations in the various regions of the
Community. It shall be based on the precautionary
principle and on the principles that preventive action
should be taken, that environmental damage should
as a priority be rectified at source and that the
polluter should pay
Preamble to the (rejected)
European Constitution
• CONVINCED that, thus ‘United in
diversity’, Europe offers them the best
chance of pursuing, with due regard for the
rights of each individual and in awareness of
their responsibilities towards future
generations and the Earth, the great venture
which makes of it a special area of human
hope
5. Adherence of
Fleet Practice
Standard of enforcement
of the existing statutes
Classes of violation
1. Fishing in restricted areas
2. Use of unauthorized gear
3. Exploitation of ‘target species’
regulations
Fishing in restricted areas
• Many access agreements restrict the
area within 10km of the coast to local,
artisanal fisherman.
• UNFAO report cites: “ample evidence of
large scale fishing vessels operating
illegally in fishing zones, which are
exclusively reserved for small-scale
fisheries”
Fishing in restricted areas (II)
• This focuses harm on coastal fishing
communities unlikely to receive a
share of EU compensation
• Also, has contributed to several
nighttime collisions between EU and
local vessels
Unauthorized gear
• 25mm shrimp fishing nets are
commonly being employed to catch
finfish
• This greatly increases the number of
juveniles captured
• Most pelagic and demersal fish species
take several years to reach peak
fecundity
Exploitation of ‘target
species’ regulations
• Kaczynski and Fluharty have looked
specifically at the fishery of GuineaBissau
• Many ships supposedly targetting
shrimp were mostly catching tuna
• “the state of Guinea-Bissau fishery
resources were seriously affected by
this practice”
Exploitation of ‘target
species’ regulations (II)
• Per-ton fees generally based on
target species only
• Other species play important local
and ecological roles
• No restrictions on whether nontarget fish can be kept by fisherman
5. Suggestions
Improvements to policy
and enforcement
Policy
1. Set catch limits at levels that can be
maintained indefinitely
2. Restrict catches further to allow some
recovery in fisheries that are already
damage
3. Take particular care to avoid catching
juvenile fish - gear restrictions
4. Develop on-shore processing in the
region to increase equity
Enforcement
1. Assist developing states with
monitoring and enforcement
2. Mandate scientific trawls and the
proper accounting of by-catch
3. Punish transgressors through
national legal systems