The EU today said the fishing export ban on Sri Lanka will continue till it is satisfied with the measures taken by the country to strengthen its management and control of the fisheries sector.
The EU was commenting on the meetings held last week with the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera in Brussels on the issue of Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fishing (IUU) after the 28-member bloc banned import of Lankan fisheries products on October 14 last year.
It was agreed that Sri Lanka would take a range of measures to strengthen its management and control of its fisheries sector.
“Once the European Commission is satisfied that these measures have been taken by Sri Lanka, it would propose the lifting of the fisheries trade measures to the EU Members States. Until then the fisheries ban stays in place,” a EU release said.
In October last year, the EU gave Sri Lanka three months to take corrective measures to stop IUU activities by the fishermen of Lanka.
On November 2012, the EU had taken a formal decision informing Sri Lanka that it was not sufficiently addressing the shortcomings in the fisheries control systems especially with regard to the implementation of the control measures, a lack of deterrent sanctions for high seas fleet, as well as lack of compliance with international and regional fisheries rules.
Following a further two years of discussions and many missed deadlines, the European Commission concluded that after almost 4 years of discussions sufficient progress had not been achieved, and as a consequence on October 14, 2014 it took a decision to ban Sri Lanka’s fisheries exports to the EU.
But it was decided to implement the ban only three months later, thus giving Sri Lanka yet another 3 months to rectify the situation. Despite these measures the progress was not sufficient, and the ban entered into force on January 15, 2015.
2015 Business Standard Ltd.