In this episode of Ocean, we step on board the Ocean Sentinel patrol vessel to see first-hand how EU member states and agencies are working together to enforce fishing regulations in the Adriatic Sea.
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00:00 The Mediterranean Sea is one of the most overfished places on earth.
00:08 Its future depends on all fishers playing by the rules and keeping their catches sustainable.
00:14 But how to ensure this in a vast sea crisscrossed by national borders?
00:24 We're on board the Ocean Sentinel.
00:28 This vessel, run by the European Fisheries Control Agency, is patrolling the international
00:33 waters of the Adriatic Sea between Italy and Croatia.
00:37 In the wheelhouse, Andrea Patalano, the EFCA's coordinator for control operations, prepares
00:43 his morning briefing with the inspection team.
00:49 Why do we have a European Union patrol vessel?
00:53 Because to let member countries put their own inspectors on board.
00:59 This way we can share insights, best practices and aim for a unified approach in inspections
01:04 and control activities.
01:09 Alongside Andrea and another Italian inspector, the team also includes a drone pilot and a
01:14 pair of fishing inspectors from Croatia.
01:22 It's a great mix.
01:23 We swap experiences and collaborate.
01:26 That's crucial because the Adriatic is a sea that is shared.
01:32 These two fishing boats working side by side are the first to be inspected this morning.
01:37 The teams radio through to the fishermen to give them a heads up.
01:41 All clear, no objections.
01:44 Moments after, a speedboat zooms off from the Ocean Sentinel, carrying the inspection
01:49 team to the fishing boats at sea.
02:02 These fishermen, many from the same family, haul in anchovies and sardines to market them
02:07 across Germany, Italy and Spain.
02:10 For Captain Dario Lacchini, inspections are no big deal.
02:15 In fact, he's all for them.
02:18 We're a family operation and our reputation and product matter to us.
02:23 We are young guys looking to the future.
02:26 With regular inspections like this, everyone's more likely to follow the rules, which should
02:31 lead to even better catches down the line.
02:36 A tricky part of the inspector's job is stepping from one moving boat to another out in the
02:41 open sea.
02:42 And that's even more challenging in bad weather.
02:45 But today's inspection seems to go smoothly, starting with the paperwork.
02:51 Everything's in check, from the fishing license to the catch log.
02:55 We're not here to crack down hard on people.
02:57 It's more about ongoing prevention.
03:00 Over the years, most fishermen have gotten the message.
03:03 They're open to inspections and, more importantly, they're fishing by the book.
03:09 Nikola Bavila and his Croatian counterpart, Domagoj Bojko, confirmed that the fishing
03:14 net's mesh size is within legal bounds.
03:20 In this case, the inspection was successful.
03:23 The captain of the fishing vessel was very cooperative.
03:27 And both the gear and the catch were in compliance with European regulations.
03:33 With all the paperwork, fishing gear, catches and monitoring systems checked out, the team
03:38 heads back to the Ocean Sentinel for a debrief.
03:44 They've got a busy 12 days ahead, filled with more inspections like this one.
03:49 It's all part of a broader multi-purpose maritime operation in the Adriatic, aimed at boosting
03:54 European collaboration on fishery control and other coastguard duties.
03:59 The overarching goal, to learn from this experience to tighten the bonds between EU member states,
04:04 pool resources and share know-how, closing any remaining gaps in fishery control.
04:12 The whole operation is steered from EFCA's headquarters in Vigo, Spain, and it's a real
04:17 team effort.
04:19 Working hand-in-hand with EFCA are officers from the European Maritime Safety Agency,
04:23 or EMSA, and Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency.
04:29 When it comes to fishery control, sharing data among these agencies and national authorities
04:34 can fine-tune the targeting.
04:37 It helps zero in on fishing boats that are more likely to be breaking the rules.
04:43 It is impossible for any of us to inspect every vessel, so what every single member
04:48 state has in common is we want to make sure when we do inspections that we know what the
04:51 risks are of the vessels that we're inspecting, and we can do that by working together.
04:56 We also want to make sure that we're doing the most cost-effective methods of control
05:00 as well, and the most efficient.
05:04 We see more examples of this inter-agency collaboration on board the Ocean Sentinel.
05:10 This container packed with EMSA's oil spill gear means we're ready for emergency clean-ups
05:14 should any pollution accidents happen nearby.
05:18 EFCA's aircraft is scanning the larger operational area, while Frontex boats are keeping an eye
05:24 on the Croatian coast.
05:26 And each inspection is backed up by an EMSA drone.
05:29 It captures a bird's-eye view of the fishing boat without tipping off the fishermen.
05:34 Normally the target vessel doesn't acknowledge that there is a drone in the air.
05:39 It's very quiet, it can zoom 30 times, so if they do something, maybe if they want to
05:45 throw something overboard or discard catches and stuff, hopefully I can catch that through
05:50 the drone.
05:52 We're setting our sights on another Italian fishing boat.
05:56 This one's a bottom trawler, scooping up a mixed bag of flatfish and other bottom living
06:01 creatures.
06:03 This fishing method is often criticised by environmentalists.
06:07 If the strict guidelines are ignored, the negative impact can be very serious.
06:13 Based on shared data, the European team assessed the risks and flagged this boat for priority
06:19 inspection.
06:20 Their concerns are validated.
06:32 Not only do they find a bottom trawler missing a current catch log, its vessel monitoring
06:36 system also appears to have been tampered with.
06:40 To make matters worse, the net fails the test.
06:43 Its mesh is too small and its twine too thick, which makes the gear illegal.
06:49 Next, there's a whole follow-up process carried out by the national authorities, which involves
06:58 calling the fishing vessel back to port and implementing further measures by the flagged
07:02 state authorities.
07:05 This could include administrative penalties, confiscation of the catch and seizure of the
07:10 illegal gear found on board.
07:15 In just the last year, EFCA coordinated close to 50,000 fishing inspections throughout the
07:20 EU, uncovering more than 5,000 infractions.
07:24 But the number of rule-abiding fishermen seems to be on the rise.
07:30 There's a growing awareness of the need to comply with the rules for the benefit of everyone,
07:35 primarily the fishermen themselves, but also all coastal communities.
07:41 There's still work to be done and that's exactly why we are out here."
07:47 Better cooperation leads to better controls, helping ensure there's still fish in the sea
07:52 tomorrow.
07:53 [Music]