June 22, 2015 — The EU’s recent high profile fishing policy reforms took a major step forward this week as the Spanish government announced potential penalties of up to €11m (£7.8m) for those engaged in illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

The fines, which were issued late last week against companies and individuals for 19 serious incidents, are the highest to be imposed by an EU government and have been described as “historic” by a coalition of three international NGOs, including the Environmental Justice Foundation, Oceana, and WWF.

More than 3,000 documents were analyzed by the Spanish Government as part of ‘Operation Sparrow’, which also saw officials raid fishing companies suspected of breaching fishing regulations.

Read the full story at Business Green