In the middle of the last decade, the environmental organization Sea Shepherd has dedicated itself to chasing illegal fishing vessels in Antarctica’s icy waters. Long persecutions such as that of the Thunder that resulted in its sinking in questionable conditions on São Tomé and Príncipe, clashes with ships such as the Kunlun, and several observations that resulted in the Spanish authorities pointing out and prosecuting the Galician fishing clans. “rotten apples” of the community’s well-known fleet. They constantly changed the names of ships, used shell companies, or imposed the law of silence among their crews.. They have also registered ships in countries that are “hard to access” such as Liberia, Togo, North Korea and even Mongolia. So, they used the so-called “flags of convenience” in this case to help hide illegal fishing practices. Now, Brussels wants to explore such applications thoroughly. European Commission orders Analysis of the impact of this “suspicious practice” and about himare the responsibility of the permitting countries.
AK launched last month 400.000 Euro tender a company conducting a study on the use of flags of convenience and the results of this have been submitted to the Directorate General for Maritime and Fisheries (DG Mare) “an updated analysis of economic dynamics and so-called open records”.
Such an application for Brussels, “widespread effects”, from environmental problems, poor working conditions or, of course, illegal fishing. Similarly, the use of these flags will also facilitate “tax evasion and avoidance of sanctions”..
According to the European Commission, the use of flags of convenience relates to “less strict enforcement” of State regulations and “non-ratification of international conventions” where the ship is marked according to the country of origin of the shipowner.
The reason for this assignment, financed by the European Maritime, Fisheries and Fisheries Fund (Fempa), is In Brussels’ view, “a complete vision is lacking” on this problemOrganizations such as the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) have issued warnings.
For this body, a shipowner’s decision to bet on a flag of convenience is that the crew are paid “too low” or conditions on board are “poor”, lacking “adequate food and clean drinking water, or working hours” without relevant breaks, as a result. with the resulting stress and fatigue.
An example of this could be Latest case of fishing boat waving Belize flag arriving in Vigo, one of the countries identified by the ITF Acceptable Practices Committee as an example of a situation often used by shipowners as a flag of convenience. The ITF personally condemned the plight of the Santa Isabel crew and determined that the last owner was Portuguese.