Panama is making progress in the fight against illegal fishing

Panama progress has been made in the fight against illegal fishing, according to an audit he conducted Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries of the European Commission (DG MARE).

After a week-long review that ended yesterday, Friday, review delegates recognized Panama’s progress in important areas and congratulated the team implementing the recommendations, noting that there are still issues that need to be resolved in a reliable manner.

In their statements, the European auditors highlighted Panama’s progress in relation to the legal framework and regulations Law on Fisheries 204 of March 18, 2021.

With this decree, the minister dr development of agriculture, Augusto Valderrama promised to release it before April 15, 2023.

The DG MARE considers that the supervising fleet Panama Water Resources Authority (Arab) it requires larger budgets, as it has to double control teams to prevent and deter Unreported and unregulated illegal fishing (Indnr).

As far as the delegates are concerned, there has been improvement in the control team, however sanctions need to be strengthened to be more deterrent and discourage illegal fishing.

In addition, they pointed out that the strict controls that Panama implements on port landings must be applied to transshipments that take place in Panamanian ports.

In view of this result, the European Union pledged to continue supporting Panama in terms of technical cooperation in order to maintain and deepen the progress of this nation.

At the final meeting of the EU review, it was concluded that Panama has shown important progress that needs to be sustained over time.

Among the advances that must be monitored is the training of human resources in the use of technology, it is necessary to reinforce with more staff the areas that need them most and protection must be provided to public officials in the performance of their functions, the performance of which has been a difficult task.

In December, Panama is expected to undergo an upcoming audit by the European Union.

This mission DG MARE was led by the head of the unit Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries of the EU, Roberto Cesari and members Mathieu Serna and Adela Rey Aneiros.