Portugese spark EU-Canada fishing row

Two Portuguese fishing vessels accused of illegal fishing off Canada’s East Coast are unlikely to face prosecution in Europe, Canadian officials said yesterday.

The Brites and the Aveirense were boarded and issued citations in the early morning of May 3 as they trawled the edge of Newfoundland’s Grand Banks, a fishing ground just outside Canada’s 200-mile economic zone.

Canadian inspectors said they observed American plaice and flounder – both banned species - on the Aveirense.

The Canadian Coast Guard searched for the net of the Brites, which the coast guard said was cut from the vessel as Canadian inspectors approached.

The net was later unfurled on a St. John’s wharf filled with rotting fish that were supposed to be protected by a fishing moratorium.

But the net has never been seen by EU inspectors, and much of Canada’s evidence has been rejected by the EU investigators, according to EU reports seen by Canadian officials.

“From what we understood from the preliminary report, our positions were not accepted,” said Steve Outhouse, spokesman for the Canada’s Fisheries Department. “It’s a very frustrating, very disappointing situation.”

The European inspectors said the net retrieved from the ocean floor could have belonged to any vessel.

“We offered to have them come and look at it and use it as part of their investigation and they chose not to look at the net,” Outhouse said.

Canada’s fisheries minister said yesterday that he would press for changes at the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organisation when it meets next month.

“I’m dissatisfied generally with the present regime and the lack of satisfactory enforcement,” Fisheries Minister Geoff Regan said. “In the long run what we need is a better international regime.”