Spain and Curaçao strengthen collaboration in fight against illegal fishing

The agreement provides for the exchange of relevant information in the fight against illegal fishing and includes a programme of exchange, and theoretical and practical training for fishing inspectors.

With this in mind, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Affairs has one of the best qualified and most experienced teams of fishing inspectors in the EU and at a global level overseeing all aspects of fishery activity control.

Spain - a global leader in the fight against illegal fishing - has taken such important steps as the so-called Operation SPARROW, which reflect the importance of international cooperation with other countries. For this reason, the ministerial department is promoting and supporting frameworks of stable cooperation with non-EU countries, as demonstrated by this agreement with Curaçao.

This agreement joins the other initiatives that Spain has launched in recent years to combat illegal fishing, many of them of a globally pioneering nature. These initiatives include the transparency and cooperative surveillance protocols supported by the Spanish fishing sector, as well as the implementation of the verification procedure for the private licences that the Spanish fleet obtains in non-EU countries.

Also included is the support provided for the FAO fishing vessel finder and the project to identify risks for the fish processing industry (Project TRIP).