In the Dakhla region, and more specifically south of Sidi El Ghazi, control, verification and census operations for boats authorized to fish were launched a week ago by the maritime fishing department with the aim of to preserve the fisheries resources of our country.
In this sense, the Collective for the Safeguarding of Fisheries Resources has indicated that it is following with great interest the progress of its control operations, welcoming the actions taken by the Department of Maritime Fisheries in this regard.
“Its operations are carried out within the framework of Morocco’s responsibilities for the conservation of fisheries resources and its commitments to prevent and fight against Illicit, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing. They are part of a process of consolidation of the Halieutis plan by supervising the fishing effort through dedicated scientific monitoring and by a legal system clarifying the rules to be respected by all. “, explains the Collective in a press release.
Indeed, since fish stocks are not inexhaustible, the Collective recalls that the overfishing generated by illegal fishing constitutes the most harmful threat to their regeneration, noting that both the international and national system defines illegal fishing as being that carried out ” without authorization, license, or any equivalent document or in violation of the laws and regulations of their flag State….. “, underlines the same source.
The control of fishing effort being the basis of any sustainable exploitation, the Collective stresses that the national system put in place has submitted the construction of boats and fishing vessels to prior authorization before specifying that this construction is the subject to monitoring by the Department of Maritime Fisheries to ensure compliance, in particular, with the authorized capacity.
In this sense, the Collective refers to Article 9 of Law No. 59-14 relating to the construction of fishing vessels which specifies that any vessel built or acquired without prior authorization cannot be registered in Morocco. Even the sale of the confiscated ship or boat under illegal construction is not a possible way of registration since article 12 of this same law affirms ” that under no circumstances should the vessel thus sold be registered for the exercise of commercial fishing in Morocco “, underlines the same source.
These provisions, continues the Collective, do not provide for any derogation or exception and do not allow any subsequent regularization of situations of illegally built boats or vessels and to open the way to unorganized access to fisheries.
This rigor of the law finds its basis according to the Collective in the need to control the fishing effort on a scientific basis which is the keystone of all the policy of management of the fisheries incumbent on the State responsible for the sustainable management. of this heritage.
In this context, the same Collective census operations are of crucial importance and require rigor and exhaustiveness to clean up the situation and restore the fishing effort to its proper extent and in line with the legal rules guaranteeing the rights of all.
« The use of mechanisms related to the legal framework of the solidarity economy to circumvent the laws of access to commercial fishing, the application of which takes precedence in the exercise of this activity, is pernicious and also induces criminal behavior in terms of registration of ships, work of seafarers and maritime navigation which come under maritime criminal law “, we advance.
Indeed, the Collective explains that the maritime fishing sector has specificities recognized and confirmed by all the specialized international organizations and the specific legal system even at the criminal level and we cannot automatically transpose land experiences to fishing activities at sea, underlines -your.
Consequently, the same source specifies that no person can take advantage of any exception or circumstance that the law has not provided for or authorized to propose, if necessary, the granting of registration authorizations for illegal constructions. , thus recalling that the Constitution affirms that “ all, natural or legal persons including public authorities are equal before it (the law) and required to submit to it ».