A study commissioned by the EU Commission shows that the financial impact on exports from developing nations to the Union from stricter IUU control will be very light indeed – a 0.26 percent price increase.
The study, conducted by consultants Megapesca Lda from Portugal and Oceanic Développement from France, analyses in depth the impacts in eight countries – Senegal, Mauritania, Morocco, Namibia, Mauritius, Ecuador, Indonesia and Thailand. Those eight nations account for almost one fifth of EU fish imports.
The new rules, adopted by the Council in September to be in effect from January 1, 2010, will introduce a new system of catch certification for consignments of fishery products for human consumption. From next year, all marine fishery products, except those from aquaculture and except for certain species, consigned by EC vessels and by third countries to the EC market must be accompanied by a certificate signed by the master of the originating fishing vessel stating that the products have been caught legally. The catch certificate must be validated by a Competent Authority of the flag state of the vessel.
The new rules are part of an effort to fight Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fishing (IUU).
The objective of the study was to assess the consequences of that regulation, in particular the certification scheme, in different developing countries.
The study estimates that the elimination of one tonne of IUU fish under the scheme will represent an average additional cost of 8 Euros per tonne on imports of marine fishery products. Assuming that compliance costs sustained by a third countries Competent Authority will be passed to industry, and then to the customer, the additional costs are estimated to represent an overall 0.26% increase in the average price of marine fishery products exported to the Union.