Europêche represented the European fishing fleet at the 27th ordinary meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) which just ended yesterday following a week of intensive negotiations via video conference.

During the plenary session of the European social dialogue committee for sea fisheries held last week, ETF and Europêche adopted a joint resolution establishing benchmark principles aimed at better regulating the proliferation of sustainability labels certifying social conditions on board fishing vessels. The intention is to avoid social-washing labels while stressing the importance of the ILO “Work in Fishing” Convention C188 as guardian of human and labour rights of fishers at sea, which cannot be replaced or substituted by private schemes.

The Joint Euro-Moroccan Commission of Fishing Professionals [1] has met last week to jointly address the options and challenges posed by the ruling of the General Court of the EU that annuls the sustainable fisheries partnership agreement with Morocco. At this meeting, the operators from both sides spoke with one voice. Sector representatives reinstated their commitment to work together with all stakeholders and policy-makers to resolve the situation and prevent any damage to the industry, trade relationship and partnership between the two parties. The Euro-Moroccan Commission will be working on a declaration of intentions that conceptualizes the fishing sector’s vision to ensure that the good cooperation between Morocco and the EU in sustainable fisheries can continue in the future.