EU agents target illegal Sicilian tuna fishing

An undercover mission by Brussels inspectors, sometimes posing as tourists, has revealed widespread use of banned driftnets by fishing vessels based in the Italian islands of Sicily and Ponza, with local authorities allegedly turning a blind eye.

The unannounced inspections are an early attempt by Maria Damanaki, EU fisheries commissioner, to crack down on illegal fishing and are expected to result in the launching of infringement procedures against Italy and the imposition of unprecedented and heavy fines from the European Court of Justice.

Some of the offending vessels – identified by the EU inspectors on a mission to four Sicilian ports in April and to Ponza this month – had even received official subsidies to stop fishing with driftnets, which were mostly banned by the EU in 2002.

Several kilometres long, the nets are used to catch highly valuable Atlantic bluefin tuna – an endangered species that migrates to the Mediterranean – as well as swordfish. Other endangered species, including whales, dolphins, sharks, turtles and birds, also end up ensnared.

“The results of the current mission clearly indicate that the driftnets ban has not yet been enforced by the Italian authorities,” the inspectors said after their mission to Sicily, where skippers were fooled into thinking they were tourists. Their report, obtained by the Financial Times, also alleged the “full tolerance of the Italian authorities” and was particularly critical of the coastguard.

Ms Damanaki raised the issue of illegal fishing in Brussels on Tuesday in her first meeting with Saverio Romano, Italy’s newly appointed agriculture and fisheries minister, who promised to take action, a Brussels spokesman said.

Mr Romano, from Sicily, is currently under investigation for suspected collaboration with the mafia in an unrelated case, but denies any wrongdoing. His ministry declined to comment on the EU report, which it confirmed it has received.

The European Court of Justice ordered Italy two years ago to enforce the EU ban on driftnets without delay, but did not impose sanctions.

A spokesman for Ms Damanaki said that if Italy was found to be failing to comply with with that court ruling then Brussels would start an infringement procedure that could lead to “high fines”. “We are very concerned that Italy is not complying,” he said.

An official Italian source said the fine could be as much as €100m. France was fined a similar amount in 2005 for catching undersized fish.

Italy’s small but powerful fishing lobby has received €97m since 1998 for converting from driftnets. In theory the authorities can suspend fishing licences of vessels caught fishing illegally, but this has not happened despite actions by the coastguard, which has seized more than 3,000 km of illegal nets since 2002.

Ms Damanaki also plans to introduce a “driving licence” points-deduction scheme for offending skippers. However critics in Italy say it is not tough enough, needing five infringements to suspend a licence.

The fishing season for bluefin tuna – an industry potentially worth several billion euros depending on sushi prices in the main market of Japan – opened this week in the Mediterranean, with each country given catch quotas. Its resources diverted to patrolling for boatloads of people fleeing the conflict in Libya, Italy’s coastguard fears it is too stretched to track illegal vessels, which are sometimes also used by the mafia for drug smuggling.