On 5 January, EurActiv reported that the European Commission said in a statement it had identified Cameroon as a “non-cooperating country” earning the “red card” designation, and would ask EU Member States to add the country to a blacklist. It is said that Cameroon continues to register fishing vessels operating outside its waters without sufficiently monitoring their activities — including one vessel involved in illegal fishing. The “red card” could prevent Cameroon being able to export its fishery products to the EU – although no such exports happen because Cameroon’s products do not meet EU sanitary standards. However, the designation could also ban EU companies from buying Cameroon-flagged fishing vessels or carrying out joint fishing operations with such vessels, or reflagging such vessels. The Commission has issued illegal fishing “red cards” to 6 other countries since 2013: Belize, Cambodia, Comoros, Guinea, Sri Lanka, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines – and, of those, Belize, Guinea and Sri Lanka have made changes to get off the blacklist.
https://www.euractiv.com/section/agriculture-food/news/eu-gives-red-card-to-cameroon-over-fishing/
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_22_7890
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/QANDA_22_7891
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