The European Union’s chief of fisheries wants to impose stricter penalties on illegal fishing based on a point-system similar to that used to penalize traffic violators. According to the plan proposed by Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg, fishing fleets or companies that violate fishing laws or use illegal equipment would be subject to stiffer punishment as they accrue points — including extended suspensions, and, eventually, the loss of fishing permits. Depletion of fishing stocks has emerged as an increasingly dire problem in European
waters, with the threat that some species — including cod, haddock and hake — will disappear altogether. “Control and enforcement of catch limits should be the cornerstone of the Common Fisheries Policy,” Borg said in a statement. “Instead, it is our Achilles heel.” Borg also wants to make it mandatory for all EU countries to inspect fish catches and processing. The EU’s 27 member nations have yet to agree to the new system.