(27 Jul 2022)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ANIMATION –
1. Illustration explaining flags of convenience
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sheffield, England – 4 March 2022
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Maurice Beseng, Research associate at the University of Sheffield's institute for Sustainable Development:
"And they often do this to take advantage of issues around: Minimal regulation, Cheap registration fees, Low or no taxes, 4 Freedom to employ cheap labor from the global labor market, and then access more ports."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ANIMATION –
3. Illustration explaining flags of convenience
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sheffield, England – 4 March 2022
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Maurice Beseng, Research associate at the University of Sheffield's institute for Sustainable Development:
"And they often do this to take advantage of issues around: Minimal regulation, Cheap registration fees, Low or no taxes, 4 Freedom to employ cheap labor from the global labor market, and then access more ports ."
STORYLINE:
To drive a car, it has to be registered. It's no different for ships.
Merchant vessels must be registered with a specific country, known as the 'flag state.' According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, that country is still responsible for inspections and enforcing regulations, such as, fishing restrictions, regardless of where the ship sails.
Vessel owners are required to have a genuine link to its flag state, but each nation decides who has the right to fly its flag.
This is known as flags of convenience.
SOUNDBITE (English) Maurice Beseng, Research associate at the University of Sheffield's institute for Sustainable Development:
"And they often do this to take advantage of issues around: Minimal regulation, Cheap registration fees, Low or no taxes, 4 Freedom to employ cheap labor from the global labor market, and then access more ports."
The practice is legal, but its growing use raises concerns about overfishing and exploitation.
In 2018, Cameroon had only fourteen ships in its registry. Today it has 129 registered vessels, with a large part from China, and increasingly, the European Union.
Vessels flying under the Cameroonian flag can access more fish along the West African coast.
Panama has the largest open shipping registry with over 8000 vessels, followed by Liberia and Marshal Islands.
SOUNDBITE (English) Maurice Beseng, Research associate at the University of Sheffield's institute for Sustainable Development
"So let's say, we are comparing a fishing vessel flying the Latvian flag to one flying a Cameroonian flag and both are fishing in The Gambia. For instance, the Latvian vessel must abide by existing fishing agreements set out by the European Union, which means they can only fish for tuna and hake outside a seven-mile nautical limit in Gambian waters. For the Cameroonian vessel, since it's agreement with Gambia is more lax, can fish for any species."
Another concern around flags of convenience is that once a ship changes its registration and flag, its history basically gets wiped clean.
The European Union issues yellow or red cards to crack down on illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.
Countries with red cards have their seafood products banned from entering the EU.
As of May, nine countries have been issued yellow cards and three have been given red cards.
The United Nations and international organizations have been calling for greater transparency and enforcement of those exploiting flags of convenience.
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