1 November 2007

UK FISHERIES minister Jonathan Shaw has backed new European Union moves to stamp out the global trade in illegal fish.

Ministers meeting in Lisbon this week signed a declaration aimed at stopping illegal produce entering the food chain, calling for existing control and surveillance measures aimed at fishermen, processors and importers to be strengthened.

The government believes illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing is a worldwide organised crime that deprives poor communities of up to $9 billion in lost income every year - $1 billion of which is lost to Africa.

In April the UK government gave its backing to a new system to beat illegal fishing around the world by tracking fish from the moment they are caught to when they arrive on consumers' plates.