US, EU to Increase Fight Against Illegal Fishing

26 September 2011

Workers process tuna in the southern Philippines for export. The country's tuna industry has decreased sharply because of fish piracy.

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

European Union officials estimate that twenty percent of all fish are caught illegally. They say honest fishermen and their communities lose as much as twenty-three billion dollars worth of seafood every year.

The European Union and the United States are among the world's largest importers of seafood. This month they signed a joint agreement in Washington to increase cooperation against fish piracy. The problem is also known as illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, or IUU.

Jane Lubchenco, the under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere, signed the agreement for the United States. Maria Damanaki, the commissioner for maritime affairs and fisheries, signed it for the European Union.

They said the European Union and the United States are starting to identify illegal fishing ships and bar them from their ports. Countries are taking measures to document imported fish, they said. And they promised to seek stronger enforcement of fishery management measures.

Gerald Leape is senior officer for international policy at the Pew Environment Group in Washington. Mr. Leape says pirate fishing exists only because illegal operators find a place to sell their fish.