Guinea removed from list of countries not cooperating with eliminating illegal fishing

Guinea has been removed from the list of countries that have not been cooperating with eliminating illegal fishing.

In a meeting held in Luxembourg on Monday, the Council of the European Union adopted the proposed withdrawal of the west African nation from the list made by the European Commission on 13 July.

The EU Commission said Conakry has set up a legal framework with a system of sanctions against illegal fishing.

The commission also said Guinea had established a monitoring regime to control and developed a national inspection plan, introduced an aerial surveillance system and equipped its Fisheries Monitoring Centre surveillance.

A report released by the Overseas Development Institute in June warned that illegal fishing in west Africa was costing the region millions in lost revenue and hundreds of thousands of jobs.

The report also blamed governments in the region for not cooperating and lack of transparency in finding ways to tackle the problem.