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The European Union moved on Tuesday to ban Sri Lanka from selling its seafood to the massive EU market in a bid to stop illegal fishing by the second biggest exporter to the bloc. The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, meanwhile proposed to scrap a ban on fish from Belize and lifted a threat to bar seafood from Panama, Fiji, Togo and Vanuatu.
"The other side of the coin today is Sri Lanka," Maria Damanaki, commissioner for maritime affairs and fisheries, told reporters.
"We tried to work with them, but they were not cooperative. I can say the contrary happened," Damanaki said.
"Sri Lanka is now authorising huge vessels to fish in the Indian Ocean without marine GPS. That means that control is impossible," she said.
