The European Union is no longer allowed to fish out or have fished out the ocean off Western Sahara without the consent of the people of Western Sahara. That sounds logical, but was also confirmed by the European Court of Justice on Wednesday. The EU has not secured the consent of the local population and thereby violated the Vienna Convention, according to the Court.
The European Union signed a fishing deal with Morocco in 2019 that also covers Western Sahara. Although Morocco itself considers Western Sahara to be Moroccan territory, the Moroccan annexation of the area is highly controversial and the right of self-determination for the original Sahrawi population is recognized internationally: also by the Netherlands and the EU.
No fewer than 89 Sahrawi organizations wrote a letter of protest to the European Commission against the conclusion of fishing and trade agreements with Morocco over an area belonging to the Sahrawi people. Nevertheless, Brussels continued the deals with Morocco, which allowed Dutch and other European fishermen to catch about 100,000 tons of fish annually in waters that largely belong to Western Sahara. The sacrifice of a population group’s right to self-determination illustrates how destructive the EU’s international ocean and fisheries policy is.
Harmful fishing subsidies
“Contribute to sustainability, climate resilience and peace and security. And to promote better human rights, freedom, democracy and working conditions worldwide.” On paper, these are the principles of the EU’s international ocean policy. In practice, European ocean policy is anything but sustainable. Europe has spent decades building a fishing fleet of monstrous size. Millions in harmful fishing subsidies exacerbated the overfishing of seas and oceans. Even highly destructive fishing methods, such as trawls that destroy the seabed, are allowed to date.
Also read: Protect our waters: require cameras on board
The fishing deal with Morocco is not an isolated one. Environmental interests, biodiversity and rights of peoples elsewhere are invariably discarded in favor of Europe’s industrial fishing activities. Earlier this year, the EU was accused of neocolonial looting of tuna in the Indian Ocean. Despite the Indian Ocean being bordered by Africa, Asia and Australia, it is European fishermen who capture most of the tuna from the area. At the same time, the EU argued behind the scenes for the weakest possible protection measures for yellowfin tuna during international consultations at the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission; anything to continue global ocean looting.
The EU did the same last summer, during a meeting at the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). There, measures were discussed to protect the shortfin mako shark, which is listed as ‘endangered’ on the IUCN Red List. ICCAT scientists and other countries proposed an international catch and landing ban, but the EU blocked it.
Europe’s international actions in the field of ocean policy are thus in stark contrast to its official objectives and to the Green Deal sustainability talks that the European Commission is so happy to use.
A version of this article also appeared in NRC in the morning of October 5, 2021
The European Union is no longer allowed to fish out or have fished out the ocean off Western Sahara without the consent of the people of Western Sahara. That sounds logical, but was also confirmed by the European Court of Justice on Wednesday. The EU has not secured the consent of the local population and thereby violated the Vienna Convention, according to the Court.
The European Union signed a fishing deal with Morocco in 2019 that also covers Western Sahara. Although Morocco itself considers Western Sahara to be Moroccan territory, the Moroccan annexation of the area is highly controversial and the right of self-determination for the original Sahrawi population is recognized internationally: also by the Netherlands and the EU.
No fewer than 89 Sahrawi organizations wrote a letter of protest to the European Commission against the conclusion of fishing and trade agreements with Morocco over an area belonging to the Sahrawi people. Nevertheless, Brussels continued the deals with Morocco, which allowed Dutch and other European fishermen to catch about 100,000 tons of fish annually in waters that largely belong to Western Sahara. The sacrifice of a population group’s right to self-determination illustrates how destructive the EU’s international ocean and fisheries policy is.
Harmful fishing subsidies
“Contribute to sustainability, climate resilience and peace and security. And to promote better human rights, freedom, democracy and working conditions worldwide.” On paper, these are the principles of the EU’s international ocean policy. In practice, European ocean policy is anything but sustainable. Europe has spent decades building a fishing fleet of monstrous size. Millions in harmful fishing subsidies exacerbated the overfishing of seas and oceans. Even highly destructive fishing methods, such as trawls that destroy the seabed, are allowed to date.
Also read: Protect our waters: require cameras on board
The fishing deal with Morocco is not an isolated one. Environmental interests, biodiversity and rights of peoples elsewhere are invariably discarded in favor of Europe’s industrial fishing activities. Earlier this year, the EU was accused of neocolonial looting of tuna in the Indian Ocean. Despite the Indian Ocean being bordered by Africa, Asia and Australia, it is European fishermen who capture most of the tuna from the area. At the same time, the EU argued behind the scenes for the weakest possible protection measures for yellowfin tuna during international consultations at the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission; anything to continue global ocean looting.
The EU did the same last summer, during a meeting at the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). There, measures were discussed to protect the shortfin mako shark, which is listed as ‘endangered’ on the IUCN Red List. ICCAT scientists and other countries proposed an international catch and landing ban, but the EU blocked it.
Europe’s international actions in the field of ocean policy are thus in stark contrast to its official objectives and to the Green Deal sustainability talks that the European Commission is so happy to use.
A version of this article also appeared in NRC in the morning of October 5, 2021
The European Union is no longer allowed to fish out or have fished out the ocean off Western Sahara without the consent of the people of Western Sahara. That sounds logical, but was also confirmed by the European Court of Justice on Wednesday. The EU has not secured the consent of the local population and thereby violated the Vienna Convention, according to the Court.
The European Union signed a fishing deal with Morocco in 2019 that also covers Western Sahara. Although Morocco itself considers Western Sahara to be Moroccan territory, the Moroccan annexation of the area is highly controversial and the right of self-determination for the original Sahrawi population is recognized internationally: also by the Netherlands and the EU.
No fewer than 89 Sahrawi organizations wrote a letter of protest to the European Commission against the conclusion of fishing and trade agreements with Morocco over an area belonging to the Sahrawi people. Nevertheless, Brussels continued the deals with Morocco, which allowed Dutch and other European fishermen to catch about 100,000 tons of fish annually in waters that largely belong to Western Sahara. The sacrifice of a population group’s right to self-determination illustrates how destructive the EU’s international ocean and fisheries policy is.
Harmful fishing subsidies
“Contribute to sustainability, climate resilience and peace and security. And to promote better human rights, freedom, democracy and working conditions worldwide.” On paper, these are the principles of the EU’s international ocean policy. In practice, European ocean policy is anything but sustainable. Europe has spent decades building a fishing fleet of monstrous size. Millions in harmful fishing subsidies exacerbated the overfishing of seas and oceans. Even highly destructive fishing methods, such as trawls that destroy the seabed, are allowed to date.
Also read: Protect our waters: require cameras on board
The fishing deal with Morocco is not an isolated one. Environmental interests, biodiversity and rights of peoples elsewhere are invariably discarded in favor of Europe’s industrial fishing activities. Earlier this year, the EU was accused of neocolonial looting of tuna in the Indian Ocean. Despite the Indian Ocean being bordered by Africa, Asia and Australia, it is European fishermen who capture most of the tuna from the area. At the same time, the EU argued behind the scenes for the weakest possible protection measures for yellowfin tuna during international consultations at the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission; anything to continue global ocean looting.
The EU did the same last summer, during a meeting at the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). There, measures were discussed to protect the shortfin mako shark, which is listed as ‘endangered’ on the IUCN Red List. ICCAT scientists and other countries proposed an international catch and landing ban, but the EU blocked it.
Europe’s international actions in the field of ocean policy are thus in stark contrast to its official objectives and to the Green Deal sustainability talks that the European Commission is so happy to use.
A version of this article also appeared in NRC in the morning of October 5, 2021
The European Union is no longer allowed to fish out or have fished out the ocean off Western Sahara without the consent of the people of Western Sahara. That sounds logical, but was also confirmed by the European Court of Justice on Wednesday. The EU has not secured the consent of the local population and thereby violated the Vienna Convention, according to the Court.
The European Union signed a fishing deal with Morocco in 2019 that also covers Western Sahara. Although Morocco itself considers Western Sahara to be Moroccan territory, the Moroccan annexation of the area is highly controversial and the right of self-determination for the original Sahrawi population is recognized internationally: also by the Netherlands and the EU.
No fewer than 89 Sahrawi organizations wrote a letter of protest to the European Commission against the conclusion of fishing and trade agreements with Morocco over an area belonging to the Sahrawi people. Nevertheless, Brussels continued the deals with Morocco, which allowed Dutch and other European fishermen to catch about 100,000 tons of fish annually in waters that largely belong to Western Sahara. The sacrifice of a population group’s right to self-determination illustrates how destructive the EU’s international ocean and fisheries policy is.
Harmful fishing subsidies
“Contribute to sustainability, climate resilience and peace and security. And to promote better human rights, freedom, democracy and working conditions worldwide.” On paper, these are the principles of the EU’s international ocean policy. In practice, European ocean policy is anything but sustainable. Europe has spent decades building a fishing fleet of monstrous size. Millions in harmful fishing subsidies exacerbated the overfishing of seas and oceans. Even highly destructive fishing methods, such as trawls that destroy the seabed, are allowed to date.
Also read: Protect our waters: require cameras on board
The fishing deal with Morocco is not an isolated one. Environmental interests, biodiversity and rights of peoples elsewhere are invariably discarded in favor of Europe’s industrial fishing activities. Earlier this year, the EU was accused of neocolonial looting of tuna in the Indian Ocean. Despite the Indian Ocean being bordered by Africa, Asia and Australia, it is European fishermen who capture most of the tuna from the area. At the same time, the EU argued behind the scenes for the weakest possible protection measures for yellowfin tuna during international consultations at the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission; anything to continue global ocean looting.
The EU did the same last summer, during a meeting at the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). There, measures were discussed to protect the shortfin mako shark, which is listed as ‘endangered’ on the IUCN Red List. ICCAT scientists and other countries proposed an international catch and landing ban, but the EU blocked it.
Europe’s international actions in the field of ocean policy are thus in stark contrast to its official objectives and to the Green Deal sustainability talks that the European Commission is so happy to use.
A version of this article also appeared in NRC in the morning of October 5, 2021