Sink illegal fishing by applying organised crime laws — prosecutor
● ‘Strategy used to jail perlemoen kingpins should be rolled out’
Fisheries crime is organised crime and a form of state capture.
That is the view of state prosecutor Martin le Roux, who was speaking at the second FishForce Dialogue at Nelson Mandela University yesterday.
Le Roux, who achieved a breakthrough when he successfully prosecuted perlemoen kingpins Morne Blignault in 2018 and Julian Brown last year, said the Prevention of Organised Crime Act, which underpinned the two cases, gave law enforcement agencies ample muscle to act.
“It provides them with the tool to do exactly what the act says.
“The challenge is to cultivate the skill and, to a degree, the political will to equip these agencies with competent people for the task.”
The success of these two trials had not so far resulted in the same approach being used to prosecute other fisheries crimes, however, and this needed to change, he said.
“All police and fisheries enforcement agencies should be required to apply an organised crime lens in collecting evidence, and to train and equip officers accordingly.
“This requires a far greater depth of understanding at the highest political levels as to what organised crime is and the effect it has on the country.
“We are familiar with the term state capture, which in essence is no more than organised crime.
“The approach is based on a good understanding of the problem and awareness that the world’s food security is being threatened not primarily by illegal fishing, but by the transnational organised crime that it hides.”
Organised crime had no borders, so a working relationship had to develop that similarly had no borders, he said.
“FishForce might be the forerunner of a UN-controlled facility to stem illegal fishing with the tools in legislation such as our own Prevention of Organised Crime Act and the similar racketeering act in the US.”
Speaking earlier, Per Erik Bergh, founder of Stop Illegal
Fishing and the FISH-i Africa task force, said the “blue economy”, hailed as the new frontier of the African renaissance by the African Union, was presently failing.
Africa’s Blue Economy Strategy to guide the sustainable development and use of aquatic resources in Africa was signed into force in Addis Ababa in 2019 but, skewed as it was towards short-term commercial exploitation, it was set to capsize, he said.
“Political pressure on public servants to make more money on fisheries results in flagging and licensing of vessels without any due diligence, increasing risks related to illegal fishing and fisheries crimes.”
Vessels engaged in illegal fishing were often involved as well with the smuggling of drugs and wildlife, and human trafficking, he said.
Illegal fishing was already difficult to police because it often took place out of sight on the high seas or below the surface, and it was further complicated and characterised by a maze of forged authorisations, the changing of vessel markings, rife corruption and no political support.
Deliberate non-compliance was a disturbing pattern in many fisheries’ fleets with the Chinese leading the way, he said.
“I dare to claim they are 100% non-compliant.”