A ship that uses a 'flag of convenience' is registered under a flag that has no connection to the vessel's nationality.
Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing is one of the most serious threats to our oceans.
It directly contributes to overfishing, threatens the livelihoods and food security of coastal communities, creates unfair competition for fishers who operate legally, and is often linked to human, drug and arms trafficking, tax evasion, money laundering and labour rights abuses in the seafood industry.
As a result, billions of dollars are lost every year, and the development of coastal states is hampered.
The lack of transparency in the global fishing industry is a major enabler of illegal fishing and associated crimes.
The remote nature of these fishing operations and the lack of transparency in the sector's activities make it difficult to identify illegal fishing vessels and their owners.
Despite the installation of tracking systems and other improvements intended to enhance transparency in the fishing industry, EU citizens can still own fishing vessels in countries that have received an official warning from the European Union for failing to combat illegal fishing.
A recent study by the EU IUU Fishing Coalition found that many vessels currently fishing under the flags of non-EU countries, which have been warned for failing to tackle illegal fishing, are owned by EU citizens who profit within the EU.
For instance, several Latvian vessels identified in this analysis now operate 'under' the flag of Cameroon, yet their true owners appear to remain in the EU!!!
Cameroon? Russia? EU?
In some non-EU countries, such as Cameroon, Europeans continue to exploit inflexible national fisheries regulations and a lack of oversight, with profits from potentially illegal catches flowing back to the EU.
The lack of information on vessel ownership in the global fishing industry hinders progress in the fight against illegal fishing, as it prevents authorities from identifying the ultimate owner of vessels that have been fishing illegally.
Although fishing vessels may be halfway across the world, the direct owners based in the EU are the ones reaping the rewards.
'Re-flagging' refers to changing a vessel's flag from one state to another, a practice that can help illegal fishers avoid fisheries legislation or controls.
Re-flagging of fishing vessels is not used only by illegal fishers. For example, Russian companies have been changing the flags of their vessels to other countries at a record pace in an attempt to evade the sanctions imposed on Russia in connection with its invasion of Ukraine.
While changing the flag under which a fishing vessel operates is legal, it becomes problematic when vessel owners seek to bypass fisheries legislation or control measures by opportunistically changing the vessel's flag to a country with more lenient rules, which is also known as using 'flags of convenience'.
A ship that uses a flag of convenience is registered under a foreign flag that is not related to the nationality of the ship's owner or operator.
From a technical point of view, international law does not permit this practice. However, the reality is that ships can choose a flag that allows them to access new fishing grounds or avoid fishing regulations or penalties.
These countries may allow ship owners to remain anonymous by using shell companies, which creates a massive lack of transparency regarding the true owners, fuels international organised crime and corruption, and facilitates the overexploitation of the ocean.
The EU is currently a champion in the fight against illegal fishing, and its legislation has already prevented some of the abuses committed by its fishing vessels.
However, the European Union must continue to implement its zero-tolerance policy against illegal fishing.
As a Member of the European Parliament, I will continue to work to eliminate secrecy in the fisheries sector and fight for transparency requirements by demanding that EU institutions publish information on vessel owners.
This is a matter of public interest, and the European Parliament has recently adopted a position to combat flags of convenience.
Green light for pirates
This practice is particularly worrying in developing coastal states with which the EU has signed Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreements (SFPAs), which allow EU vessels to fish in those countries' waters.
The study found that vessels have switched their flags to non-EU countries with which the EU has existing sustainable fisheries agreements.
Vessels fishing under these agreements are subject to an exclusivity clause, which dictates that EU vessels are prohibited from fishing in the coastal state's waters outside of the official access agreement.
However, the study identified at least three EU-owned vessels that have been re-chartered to a non-EU country that has an existing SFPA in place, namely a Spanish-owned vessel re-chartered to Mauritania.
Furthermore, two Latvian vessels have changed their flags to those of Cameroon and Georgia, but are likely fishing in Mauritanian waters.
Usually, if the EU and an SFPA partner country determine that fishing opportunities are exhausted, all EU vessels are prohibited from fishing in the partner country's waters.
However, these EU vessel owners can retain access to these areas by using national quotas because their ships are no longer sailing under the flag of an EU member state.
The financial benefit from these fishing operations still goes to the EU-registered owners, whose vessels continue to profit from resources in the coastal state's waters.
This also creates an uneven playing field for EU operators who comply with the rules. Although the European Parliament recently decided to renew the EU-Mauritania fisheries agreement for another five years, the majority of Members of Parliament expressed concerns about re-flagging in the region. This is a strong signal: we will not stop illegal fishing and the plundering of our seas by those who do not follow the rules if we do not address this situation.