Abstract

IUU fishing is one of the maritime risks identified by the European Union Maritime Security Strategy. However, European institutions have not taken concrete actions to tackle this problem by increasing control of fishing activities, not only on the High Seas managed by Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs) but also in the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) of third coastal States that do not have the capacity to monitor extractive practices by their own means. The approach taken by the EU to combat illegal fishing, defined by Council Regulation (EC) 1005/2008, has preferred to prioritize monitoring carried out by port and flag States, building up a complex system of administrative and commercial sanctions against individual, private companies and third States involved in illegal fishing practices. This chapter defends the view that this approach should be complemented with a larger participation of EU military forces in surveillance activities to be carried out on the High Seas or in the jurisdictional waters of third States.