South Africa’s fishing industry may face increased competition from Namibian fish exports, which could spell disaster for the local industry. Because Namibia has still to sign an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union, which is expected to result in it losing its trade preferences later this year, industry role players have warned that the country is likely to divert most of its exports, currently destined for the European market, to South Africa.

Agriculture in the Bahamas, as a percentage, is roughly 2 percent of GDP. Within the agricultural sector, the fisheries sub-sector has been playing a particularly dynamic role, consistently accounting for more than 75 percent of total agricultural output and with the crawfish industry, yielding anywhere from $60 to $100 million dollars (USD) per year - or on average representing about 85 percent of the value of all fisheries output. For a country with less than 400,000 people and for a sector that employs less than 10,000, country-wide, that is a considerable amount of wealth for persons in the fisheries sector.

This three year project, the implementation of which was completed in December 2008, covers the three ACP countries in the IOC. The total cost of the project is estimated at 5.46 million Euro, 3.5 million of which comes from the 9th EDF while the remainder is paid partly by Reunion and the other IOC member states. The objective of the programme is to establish and test the conditions for regional cooperation in the field of MCS with a view to ensuring sustainable resource management.

This report produced by Concord forms part of the work being undertaken by European development NGOs to monitor and advocate on European aid. It reports that some of the countries deliver aid based on their own priorities and not those of the poor while addressing the symptoms and not the causes - and yet they deliver the majority of the global aid flows. It adds that evidence shows that when aid is delivered well, it has been crucial in improving living conditions of the poor in developing countries.

The Europeans are mounting pressure on African countries to sign the controversial Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). But experts have warned against it. They argued that it favours Europe only and that economic development in Africa must be allowed to kick-off out of internal evolution. But the news filtering out is that the West African sub continent is about to sign the deal.

This programme is a follow-up to previous sustainable tuna fishery management projects already financed since the 5th EDF.  With a total budget of 14 million Euro, it the most ambitious tuna tagging scheme in the world. It aims to improve scientific knowledge of the state of tuna stocks and tuna exploitation rates in the Indian Ocean region.

On 13 July, the Agriculture and Fisheries Council held a public debate on the Swedish Presidency's work programme for the next six months. Its main priorities are sustainable fisheries, the global challenges relating to food security and climate change, and sound animal husbandry.
Source: EU Council

Joe Borg says the EU must over problems it "inherited" from the past before it can implement reform of its fisheries policy. But Borg, the EU fisheries and maritime affairs commissioner, said he remains confident about the future of the European fishing sector. In April, the commission launched a public consultation, which will run until the end of the year, on the future of common fisheries policy (CFP). The reform acknowledges that the CFP has, so far, failed to deal with the depletion of fish stocks and that over-capacity persists in Europe's fishing fleets.
Source: theparliament.com

The Briefing on “Fighting against Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fishing (IUU):Impacts and challenges for ACP countries” held in Brussels on 29th April 2009 looked at the main challenges of IUU at global and regional levels and the private sector concerns. The 2008 EC regulation which aims to prevent and deter IUU fishing was presented and discussed, along with the challenges for its implementation in ACP countries and the need for technical assistance to comply with the new requirements.The short report captures the essence of the discussions and the Reader gives a the key issues on the IUU Fishing as well as resources and references available on line.
Source: CTA