EU failing to enforce illegal fishing rules, say campaigners

Illegal fishing is one of the biggest causes of overfishing around the world: one in every five fish is caught through illegal, unreported or unregulated fishing. File picture: Damien Eagers

Campaigners have said the EU is failing to enforce rules on illegal fishing, and allowing member states to conceal information that could help uncover breaches of fishing law.

The court of justice of the EU ruled on Thursday that member states could keep vital details of their implementation of fishing rules under wraps, in a blow to environmental campaigners hoping to use the information to show whether the regulations are working.