Maritime Law Enforcement Archives - IUU Risk Intelligence

CATCH – A Big Leap from Paper to Electronic Catch Certification of Imported Seafood entering European Union

09/18/202205/07/2019 by Pramod Ganapathiraju

Catch Certification - Seafood provenance

Catch certification (CC) is a trade control system. The European Council directive 1005/2008 of 29 September 2008 established an EU-wide surveillance system to prevent illicit, unreported, and unmanaged fishing catches from entering the EU common market.
The new digital catch certification “CATCH” replaced the old paper-based system. “CATCH will digitalize the paper-based certification process, support EU Member States in illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing verification, reduce fraud risk, facilitate trade flows, and reduce operator and administrative duties.”

USA – China trade spat: Would there be any impact on global seafood trading arrangements ?

09/18/202208/04/2018 by Pramod Ganapathiraju

Impact of trade sanctions on developed economies like China are hard to predict due to resilience of Chinese markets to global stressors. In 2017, China decreased duties for cold-water shrimp, crab, pollock, and 6 species of frozen tuna (Hoa and Trang 2017). The increased U.S. tariffs may encourage Chinese providers to import more seafood from Russia, Canada, and South Korea for similar species (e.g. lobster, crabs).

U.S. Seafood Import Monitoring Program – Viable or Unviable?

09/12/202201/09/2017 by Pramod Ganapathiraju

The U.S. seafood traceability programme (SIMP) attempts to improve data gathering on “harvest, landing, and chain of custody of specific fish and fish products imported into the U.S. that are vulnerable to IUU fishing and seafood fraud” (NOAA 2016). SIMP would require traceability from harvest to first U.S. port of entry.

Thailand and the UN – Port State Measures Agreement: Will Accession facilitate more inspections at Thai ports?

09/12/202205/11/2016 by Pramod Ganapathiraju

Thailand is a major player in global seafood trade and processing of fishery products. Among the major fish producer countries Thailand was ranked 14 in 2012 with capture fisheries landings of more than 1.6 million tonnes. However, Thailand exhibits its dominance as the third largest exporter of seafood in the world (8.1% of the global … Read more

Port State Measures Agreement – 25 parties on the table

09/16/202203/31/2016 by Pramod Ganapathiraju

On 30 March 2016, Gambia’s national assembly ratified the UN agreement on Port State Measures to prevent, deter and eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (IUU). This brings the number of parties formally ratifying the treaty to 25. Pursuant to Article 29, the Agreement shall enter into force thirty days after the date of deposit … Read more

Do Americans really care if it is Alaska pollock or Russian pollock ?

09/16/202201/22/2016 by Pramod Ganapathiraju

New U.S. Federal Rule on acceptable market names could prevent mislabeling of pollock caught in Alaska (USA) and Russian waters. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently updated its list of acceptable market names for seafood caught in U.S. waters. The common name is the prevalent and often used for selling seafood to consumers. FDA … Read more

UN Port State Measures Agreement could be ratified soon ?

09/16/202201/15/2016 by Pramod Ganapathiraju

South Korea became the 19th country to ratify the UN Port State Measures Agreement (PSMA) on 14 January 2016. The spree of recent ratifications is seen as a stride in the right direction. If the present pace continues the treaty might come into effect by the first week of June. The PSMA would come into force … Read more

Are Port State Measures Enough to control IUU seafood imports into U.S.A: Next Steps ?

09/16/202212/01/2015 by Pramod Ganapathiraju

On October 22, 2015 the U.S. Senate passed the Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing Enforcement Act. The new Bill (H.R. 774) would provide more powers to NOAA inspectors to conduct thorough inspections and deny entry to suspected IUU vessels at U.S. ports. In this context there are several pros and cons that need to be taken into account with … Read more