Sri Lanka is to enact new legislation to curb Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing practices and regulate fisheries resources management as one of the key requirements to regaining the Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP+) concessions from the European Union. The move to introduce fresh legislation to eliminate IUU fishing came in the wake of the new GSP Regulation expected to enter into force on January 1, 2024 for the next ten-year cycle.
Countries such as Sri Lanka which were among the beneficiary countries from the EU trade concessions would have a two-year window to reapply to the scheme.
“These bills are to be enacted to meet the EU concessionary requirements that were already communicated to us. One of them–Fisheries Resource Management–is to ensure a sustainable fisheries industry since we noticed our resources have reduced significantly over the years,” Fisheries Minister Douglas Devananda told the Sunday Times.
A fresh bill, published on Wednesday to amend the Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Act, No. 2 of 1996 declared no person would be allowed to engage in IUU fishing activities in Sri Lankan territorial waters or the high seas.
Penalties for those vessels found to be engaged in IUU fishing would be imposed with fines ranging from Rs 50,000 (10.3-15 metres) to Rs 50 million (45 to 75 metres) depending on the length of the boat.
The Fisheries Department Director General would also be armed with powers to cancel or suspend the fishing permits of those vessels found to be engaged in IUU fishing in the country’s waters.
If the bills were not challenged in the Supreme Court within three weeks of their publication, they would be taken up for the Second Reading in the upcoming Parliament sessions, Minister Devavanda said.
Among the matters that were raised at the 25th session of the Joint Commission between Sri Lanka and the European Union held in May at the Foreign Ministry, issues related to IUU fishing were highlighted and cooperation in the framework of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) were discussed.
Both sides agreed to take follow-up action based on the deliberations of the 25th session, including the identification of a series of action points to make progress on or before the next Joint Commission Meeting in 2024 in Brussels, the Foreign Ministry said in a joint statement following the discussion. The EU also informed that the report of the last EU GSP+ monitoring cycle of 2020-2022 was expected to be released in the coming months as well.