BEIJING - European fishing vessels are operating under local flags in some African waters under opaque conditions, contributing to overfishing which threatens the livelihoods of local fishers and the sustainability of fish stocks, the Financial Times (FT) reported.
Altering a fishing vessel's national registration allows it to operate under authorities with weaker standards or enforcement than the European Union (EU), and local flags sometimes permit vessels to fish in ways that are prohibited for European-flagged boats, reported the British newspaper.
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The FT and the NGO Oceana jointly found 39 industrial fishing vessels flagged to Gambia, Mauritania, Senegal and Guinea-Bissau as of July, despite their ownership or management links to European companies. Over half of them were licensed to bring seafood into the EU to meet rising demand on the continent.
The report noted that a trawler was reflagged from Spain to Mauritania in 2021, which allowed it to get a license the following year to catch octopus, a species that European-flagged boats cannot target under the bloc's fishing agreement with Mauritania.
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While European companies argue that joint ventures with local partners bring investment to these regions, critics have pointed out the lack of transparency in the joint ventures' financial arrangements and questioned how much of the profit benefits local communities.
Local fishers in countries like Senegal have complained to the FT about dwindling fish stocks amid competition with foreign-owned ships, forcing them to travel further out on the sea or leave for Europe.
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Northwest Africa loses an estimated $2 billion in revenues per year to illegal and unregulated fishing and recently recorded a sharp decline in sustainable fish stocks, due to both fishing and environmental changes, according to the report.
