Cameroonian fish banned from entering Europe
Cameroonian fish now non grata in the EU.
© Sandra Idossou
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
Brussels has decided to place Yaoundé on the list of countries "
non-cooperating in the fight against unreported and unregulated illegal fishing
".
The Commission had already warned the Cameroonian authorities in February 2021 accusing them of not sufficiently combating illegal fishing.
Publicity
Read more
In Brussels language, this is called “a red card”.
Since 2013, six other countries have already received one, including Comoros, Guinea and Sri Lanka.
Clearly, Cameroon is now excluded from the European seafood market.
The European Commissioner for Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkervicius, criticizes the Yaoundé authorities for having done nothing for a year to curb illegal fishing.
Cameroon, he says, has even “
continued to register fishing vessels operating outside its waters without their activities being subject to any monitoring
”.
On a practical level, this ban on fishery products does not change anything for Cameroon, which does not export to Europe for reasons of non-compliance with health rules.
Still, the signal sent is negative.
Since 2010, the European Union has practiced zero tolerance towards illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, in order to contribute to the preservation of marine biodiversity.
Illegal fishing is particularly that which takes place in fish breeding grounds or in protected areas.
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
Cameroon
European Union
Trade and Exchanges