Commitment of Comoros islands to fight Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing
A delegation of the European Commission and a delegation of the Union of Comoros met within the framework of the Joint Committee to discuss issues linked to the implementation of the Fisheries partnership agreement between the EU and the Union of Comoros.
At the request of the EU delegation in Mauritius a discussion took place on ways to improve the fight against IUU. The EU delegation referred to ongoing cases of 2 fishing vessels under Comoros flag that were fishing in Senegalese waters in 2011 with fishing authorizations delivered in breach of the provisions of the Senegalese Fisheries Code. Reacting to correspondence sent by the European Commission requesting information on these vessels, within the framework of the Joint Committee, the competent authorities of Comoros committed themselves to withdraw the Comoros flag from these 2 fishing vessels.
Furthermore, Comoros committed to put in place a closer co-operation between their Ministry of transport and their Ministry of Fisheries which keeps an updated view on the international lists of IUU vessels, so that Comorian authorities can prevent in the future any further registration of IUU vessels under Comorian flag.
The European Commission welcomes the measures and the commitments that have been taken by the Comorian authorities towards better results against IUU.