![fishing in the dark means fishing in the dark means](http://www.animalhi.com/thumbnails/detail/20190421/5cbc024c12bc8.jpg)
In other words, EU citizens are likely profiting, without penalty, from countries’ lack of enforcement. However, seafood products caught by vessels fishing in countries that fail to tackle IUU fishing may still make their way to the EU market, or the proceeds of these activities end up in the pockets of EU companies. This means the owners of these vessels cannot profit from the subsidies that the EU pays to fish in the waters of non-EU countries. The study concludes that vessels that have been fishing using the flags of such countries are no longer entering the EU fleet. Non-EU countries that are failing to tackle illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing can be issued with a formal warning of trade sanctions by the EU. Although this practice is legal, there are several instances where reflagging a vessel could be problematic, such as when the owners of fishing vessels try to bypass fisheries laws or control efforts by opportunistically reflagging their vessel to a country with more relaxed measures.
![fishing in the dark means fishing in the dark means](https://www.outdoorcanada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/138957.jpg)
Reflagging is the process of changing the flag of a vessel from one country to another. Keeping ownership details in the dark allows such practices to continue, harms legal fishers and businesses, and undermines the EU’s zero-tolerance policy to IUU fishing”, states Vanya Vulperhorst, Campaign Director for illegal fishing and transparency at Oceana in Europe. Preventing abusive reflagging only scratches the surface to stop the problem of EU nationals benefiting from illegal fishing or lax fishing rules elsewhere. However, to stop illegal fishing proceeds from entering the EU we need to make information on the true owners of fishing vessels public. “ The SMEFF Regulation appears to have deterred abusive reflagging of fishing vessels entering and exiting the European Union. While these findings are positive, the assessment also revealed that lax national fisheries rules and controls in non-EU countries continue to be exploited by EU citizens, with profits from possible illegal catches flowing back to the EU. The work evaluates the effectiveness of the Sustainable Management of External Fishing Fleets (SMEFF) Regulation − an EU law adopted in 2018 for the control of EU vessels fishing in non-EU waters. The EU has addressed loopholes that previously allowed its fishing vessels to rapidly and frequently change flags to evade fisheries laws, a new assessment by the EU IUU Fishing Coalition* has found.