1. SOUTH AFRICAN DEEP-SEA TRAWLING INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 1005/2008—the Catch Certification Scheme for Fishery Products Imported from Third Countries. A Private Sector View from South Africa

2. Introductory The issues at stake are serious for private sector operators depending on the European Trade for survival. The private sector understands the inevitability the Regulation commends and supports its objectives and will do anything to help to ensure that the smooth working of the certification system. Business needs legitimate trade to continue unchanged and undisturbed come January2010 --- at no significant increase in cost to exporters. Business also wants a Regulation positively disposed to the development of trade with Europe Business does not want to be considered overcritical of EC1005/2008

3. CAUTIONARY the astounding diversity of commercial fisheries in ACP countries makes it extraordinarily difficult to arrive at a definitive private sector view The background of present opinion Capital intensive medium to high tech heavily reliant on European trade sophisticated fisheries laws good fisheries management rigorous enforcement and compliance. Appropriate prescription for small scale, and quasi-subsistence fisheries differ from industrial fisheries The Regulation could also have been better crafted to meet the needs of artisanal sectors

4. SCOPE OF CONCERN Concerns focus on mechanics and legal issues fishery products shall only be imported with a catch certificate validated by a competent authority related to (the responsible) fishing vessel(s) catching in accordance with applicable laws and containing all the information in Annex II. Article 12 together with the definition of illegal fishing poses a danger of enterprises being unable to comply with procedure or otherwise prejudiced Other concerns have been tabled hopefully if the certification scheme is sorted they should all resolve in good time.

5. THE DIFFICULTY WITH TRACKING The mechanisms for 3rd Countries were largely inspired by RFMOs thus the Certification Scheme is well crafted to deal with iconic, high seas, IUU operations RFMOs are not the norm - they account for a small part of trade in fishery products – the rest of the fishing world tends to rely on a diversity of much more complex business models Advanced trading practice usually implies aggregation and disaggregation processes along the way from landing to exportation perfect traceability inevitably unravels The Ship, the Trip and the Skipper mostly get lost in the wash but secure tracking still remains possible

6. THE DIFFICULTY WITH LAW It is acknowledged a great strength of the Regulation that it lets the laws and policies of trading partners apply to certification procedure. When the definition of illegality in EC1005/2008 interacts with a rigorous local enforcement tradition strength may turn weakness. Local law may or may not prevent a distinction being drawn between “illegal fishing” and “non-compliant fishing” whereas local practice will probably always do so Failure of other legal systems to distinguish between grand and petty illegality leads to perverse outcomes under the best management regimes

7. The role of the vessel and the skipper should be downgraded, radically so for the skipper, possibly by finding a way to reformulate Annex II Tracing needs to be appropriate to the wider circumstances of fisheries - the “critical control point” approach of the existing European food safety system may prove a useful guideline Competent Authorities administering quality fisheries management systems need discretion in issuing certificates for domestic enterprise the concept of properly regulated fishing needs to be given more weight in the implementation of the Regulation CAN ANYTHING BE DONE?

8. CONCLUSIONS A certification scheme remains the best vehicle to ensure that fishery products traded into the EC are lawful. The Regulation cannot be amended within any meaningful period - individual Government and EC Authorities will have to work rapidly, flexibly and creatively with the tools at hand. The tools seem limited to Subordinate Regulations, Interpretation and Exemptions - hopefully Annex II will benefit from betterment processes. The probability of bilateral negotiation within the framework of EC 1005/2008 means that ACP countries will have opportunity to cooperate with the European Commission in shifting the Certification Scheme in the desired direction.

9. SOUTH AFRICAN DEEP-SEA TRAWLING INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION THANK YOU

10. Aggregation etc - a Practical Example Italian consumers love sleeved hake loins retailed in cartons of 400 grams This cut is derived from a process of filleting, skinning and portioning the fish into six other cuts destined for different markets 35% of the landing is consigned to other product lines, the rest is geared for cutting – only fish over 600 grams go into cutting 2% of the landing is recoverable in loin form This fleet achieves 7 landings per week consisting of 40 tons average raw material per landing. it will require approx 900 tons of landed fish to fill an 18 ton container consigned to a single customer 900 tons approximates to 23 landings put into storage vessel by vessel over nearly a month 23 catch certificates are required for that one container let alone all the other containers holding the other parts of the same fish It is observed that from the time of being caught until the day it arrives in Italy all the fish has belonged to and been in the custody of one person