Illegal fishing

At the same time, the Commission looked to establish contacts with the flag states, also in cases where the catch certificates were not in compliance or other problems had appeared. Where cooperation did not lead to tangible results (changes in the legislation and in the practice of the flag state, sanctions against vessels that were active in IUU fishing), the Commission issued a warning that the state in question might be put on a list of non-cooperating states ("yellow card", Article 32), and where this warning did not lead to changes, the flag state was placed on such a list which was published ("red card", Article 38). The consequences were in particular of economic nature (Article 38): the importation into the EU of fishery products caught by vessels flying the flag of non-cooperating states was prohibited altogether, negotiations with that state on bilateral fishery agreements or fishery partnership agreements were stopped, joint fishing operations were prohibited, etc. The FAO and all other regional fisheries management authorities were informed of the measures which enabled them also to pronounce sanctions.

As regards the third priority, Article 39 provided in particular a prohibition on EU citizens to support or engage in IUU fishing activities. Other prohibitions were intended to stop contractual relationships with "black list" vessels, to sell or export fishing vessels to operators of IUU fishing activities, etc.

The sanctions against persons involved directly or indirectly in IUU fishing activities - including EU citizens acting outside the EU - constitute in particular in payments of "at least" five times the value of the IUU fishing products, in the case of repetition eight times that value (Article 44). The application of other effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions, including criminal sanctions, was up to Member States.