On the occasion of the International Day for the Fight Against Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated fishing (IUU), we would like to highlight the ways EFCA contributes to this key priority for the EU:
On 28 May 2020 and for one year, the European Fisheries Control Agency took over the rotating chairmanship of the European cooperation on Coast Guard functions, formalised through a Tripartite Working Arrangement between the European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA), the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) and the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex).
EFCA Administrative Board adopted the agency’s Annual Report for 2019. The agency supported the Member States and the European Commission in the implementation of the Control regime of the Common Fisheries Policy through the coordination of the Joint Deployments Plans, the development of specific projects related to assessment of compliance with the landing obligation (LO) and new technologies such as Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM) and the implementation of capacity building operations in the framework of the international dimension.
Yesterday, at 13:14 GMT, a Portuguese trawler relayed a MAYDAY message to Lundy Sentinel reporting that an Estonian trawler required immediate assistance due to a fire on-board. Lundy Sentinel´s captain responded immediately to the assistance request and proceeded to the Estonian fishing vessel position. Weather conditions on the scene of action were wind 18 knots, swell 3 meters with a thick fog.
"Operation" Sardinelle ", a fishery surveillance operation in which Member States of the Sub-regional Fisheries Commission (SRFC) cooperated to detect Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) fishing, took place from 23 to 26 January 2020.
The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) has been closely cooperating with the European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA) to support enhanced fisheries control by providing additional surveillance capacity from a remotely piloted aircraft system (RPAS). EMSA has made available a quadcopter for flights taking off from EFCA’s chartered offshore patrol vessel, the Lundy Sentinel, and operating over areas of interest in the Mediterranean Sea, western waters of the North-East Atlantic Ocean, North Sea and Baltic Sea.
The European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA) in cooperation with the Member States Control Expert Groups (CEGs) has carried out an evaluation of compliance with the Landing Obligation (LO) in selected fisheries in the North Sea and North Western Waters. The evaluation was performed over the period 2015-2017 for mackerel fisheries and over 2016-2017 for North Sea fisheries targeting cod, plaice and sole and for North-western waters fisheries targeting haddock, hake and whiting.
More than 90 delegates from the European Coast Guard Functions Forum (ECGFF) gathered in Venice for the plenary sessions of the Heads of Coast Guard Functions Organisations.
The European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA) Administrative Board, in its 33th meeting held on 22 October in Vigo (Spain), has adopted the Single Programming Document (SPD) for 2020-2024, comprising of a complete overview of the resources allocated to the Agency in accordance with planned objectives, indicators and deliverables for the coming years. The budget for 2020 is of EUR 17.6 million, subject to the adoption of the European Union (EU) budgetary authority.
European law enforcement and fisheries control authorities have enhanced their cooperation in combating illegal fishing activities following the organisation of a Joint Action Day (JAD) on 25 September, in the framework of EMPACT (European Multidisciplinary Platform against Criminal Threats). The leader of this particular JAD was Portugal with EFCA as co-leader, teaming up EU Agencies (Europol, Eurojust and Frontex) and Member States Cyprus, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Malta, Italy, Portugal, Spain, law enforcement and fisheries control communities.