Duncan Currie (53), a lawyer and expert in international maritime policy said Europe and the U.S. simultaneously designated South Korea as an illegal fishing (IUU) country, warning Korea that they will impose sanctions if it continues illegal operations. Currie, a New Zealand attorney is an expert in marine environment. He is a consultant for international organizations such as the United Nations (UN) and for international environmental groups such as Greenpeace. Currie arrived in South Korea to attend a workshop on maritime and deep-sea fishing policies at the National Assembly on May 10.

Duncan Currie, an international attorney and expert in maritime policies, during an interview with The Kyunghyang Shinmun at the Greenpeace office in Hapjeong-dong, Seoul on May 9

In an interview with The Kyunghyang Shinmun on May 9, Currie warned that the whole South Korean fishing industry could suffer if Korea turns a blind eye to illegal fishing and neglects to blacklist vessels engaged in illegal fishing in the Antarctic Ocean.

He explained that South Korea was one of the few countries still running illegal fishing operations in foreign waters using pair trawlers. According to Currie, the UN repeatedly warned South Korea to refrain from fishing with trawlers, but the country has not taken any particular measures. South Korean fishing vessels continue to conduct illegal fishing operations: using trawlers, turning off the vessel's GPS tracking device, and overfishing.

At a Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources meeting in 2011, South Korea cast the only vote against an initiative to designate a South Korean ship as an illegal fishing vessel for excessively catching more than 4 times the permitted amount of Patagonian toothfish, a species in the Antarctic Ocean protected internationally.

Some argue that neighboring China is much more ruthless, when discussing the illegal fishing of South Korean vessels. However, Currie claims that in the eyes of the international society, illegal fishing in South Korea is no less serious compared to illegal fishing in China or a third country.

He admitted that illegal fishing by the Chinese was in fact serious compared to that of other countries, but stressed that given South Korea's position in the international deep-sea fishing industry and the country's credibility, South Korea being designated an illegal fishing country was a very serious issue.

Currie claimed that the position South Korea held in the deep-sea fishing industry was completely different from countries with little influence such as Panama and Liberia. He added that everyone would regard it a serious issue if a major country such as South Korea was branded for illegal fishing.

Currie added that the solution to the illegal fishing problem was actually quite simple. Illegal fishing is increasing because it's easy for people to get away after sailing their ship out to sea and earning big money illegally in a short period of time. To solve this problem, primarily, the government needs to set the fines for illegal fishing at an extremely high rate.

Currie explained that once the fines are raised and punishment is strengthened to immediately confiscate the property when the illegal act is detected, people would think twice before engaging in illegal fishing. Also, illegal fishing monitoring systems should be tightened on each vessel, and the government needs to apply fishing standards according to international law when designing policies.

He relayed views that we must suspend all fishing operations in all our oceans immediately, voiced at a recent workshop on maritime affairs and fisheries organized by the UN. He added that the marine fisheries resources are rapidly dwindling every year. He predicted that if we continue the current reckless practices, commercial fishing may not be possible in the next 40~50 years.

Currie stressed that it was not important which country engaged in more or less illegal fishing, because everyone would suffer the consequences. According to Currie, we don't have enough time to determine the rights and wrongs of every country. Climate change and the acidification of our oceans are challenges difficult to prevent with human effort, but we can control problems like illegal fishing. So we must continue our effort to establish sustainable maritime policies through international cooperation.