EC court rules against France

saying its catching sector’s use of drift nets to catch bluefin is illegal.

France took the Council of Ministers to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) disputing the definition of a drift net as specified in a 2007 Council regulation. That rule tightened the definition of drift nets which were outlawed by the EU in 2002.

France argued that its drift nets were legal since they were used by small-scale fishermen and were a maximum of 10km long compared to the drift nets banned in 2002 which were hundreds of kilometres long.

The court found against France saying their fisheries authorities had neither effectively inspected nets used by fishermen for catching bluefin tuna, nor had they applied strict enough rules to prevent the use of illegal drift nets.

A similar case is pending against Italy, he added.

Category: EU Government News