www.illegal-fishing.info - New to these issues?

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Development, communities and livelihoods
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Environment, biodiversity and fish stocks
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Bycatch / discards
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Capacity building
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Certification
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Chain of custody / Supply chain management
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Corruption / mismanagement
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Enforcement
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Flag state issues
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Governance / management
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International trade / WTO
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Monitoring, control and surveillance
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Organised crime
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Port state issues
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Retail / consumers
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Tracking technology
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Transshipment
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African Union / New Partnership for Africa's Development
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CITES
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EU Action Plan
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EU Common Fisheries Policy
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FAO / UN High Seas Processes
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High Seas Task Force
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RFMOs
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Southern African Development Community (SADC)
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US Lacey Act
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18th Apr 13

Managed by Chatham House

Financed by DEFRA

New to these issues?

At its broadest, illegal fishing takes place where vessels operate in violation of the laws of a fishery. This can apply to fisheries that are under the jurisdiction of a coastal state or to high seas fisheries regulated by regional fisheries management organisations (RFMOs).

Unreported fishing is fishing that has been unreported or misreported to the relevant national authority or regional organisation, in contravention of applicable laws and regulations.

Unregulated fishing generally refers to fishing by vessels without nationality, or vessels flying the flag of a country that is not party to the regional organisation governing that fishing area or species.

The drivers behind IUU fishing are clear enough, and similar to those behind many other types of international environmental crime. Most obviously, pirate fishers have a strong economic incentive: many species of fish, particularly those which have been over-exploited and are thus in short supply, are of high value.

Such IUU activity may then show a high chance of success – i.e. a high rate of return - from the failure of governments to regulate adequately (e.g. inadequate coverage of international agreements), or to enforce national or international laws (e.g. because of lack of capacity, or poor levels of governance). A particular driver behind IUU fishing is the failure of a number of flag states to exercise any effective regulation over ships on their registers - which in turn creates an incentive for ships to register under these 'flags of convenience'.

IUU fishing has serious consequences. It not only leads to depletion of fishing stocks, which can have serious knock-on effects on ecosystems, but it also deprives often poor communities of their livelihoods and can cost governments millions of dollars in lost revenues.

In recent years, there have been a number of measures and initiatives introduced to combat IUU fishing. The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) agreed an International Plan of Action to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate IUU Fishing (IPOA-IUU) in 2001; and in 2009, adopted a new measure to prevent IUU fish from entering ports. The European Union and many individual states have adopted similar plans of action. The EU is introducing an additional regulation in 2010 to further intensify efforts to keep illegally caught fish from entering the EU market. In southern Africa, members of SADC (the Southern Africa Development Community) signed a statement of commitment in 2008 to work together to combat IUU fishing.

This site will provide you with information on these, and many more, aspects of IUU fishing. We hope you find it interesting and informative. To learn how to navigate around the site, please click on New to this site?.

documents (4)
news (12)
profiles (3)

documents

FMSP (Fisheries Management Science Programme, UK) Policy Briefs
01/10/2009
MRAG (Marine Rsources Assessment Group) have produced a series of 9 policy briefings each addressing a key area of sustainable fisheries and developme ...
Author: MRAG, for the Department for International Development (DFID) UK

Estimating the Worldwide Extent of Illegal Fishing
26/02/2009
Illegal and unreported fishing contributes to overexploitation of fish stocks and is a hindrance to the recovery of fish populations and ecosystems. T ...
Author: PLoS One (Agnew, D J et al)

Questions and Answers on IUU Fishing
17/10/2007
Answers to commonly asked questions on IUU fishing from the European Commission. ...
Author: European Commission

Review of Impacts of Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing on Developing Countries: Final Report
01/07/2005
A report examining the impacts of illegal fishing with particular focus on developing countries. This document is part of a project funded by the UK ...
Author: MRAG

news

15/06/2010
The African Union tackles illegal fishing in African waters
Author: DefenceWeb

03/09/2009
Taiwanese ships caught illegally transferring tuna
Author: Scoop Independent News, New Zealand

05/08/2009
Fishy fishing practices threaten the environment
Author: IPS News Agency

02/06/2009
Film warns of 'world without fish'
Author: BBC News

28/04/2009
No tuna, no salmon. No oysters, no skate. No cod and chips
Author: Scuba Diving News

07/04/2009
Illegal fishing still a problem
Author: Science Alert, Australia and New Zealand

20/02/2009
Closing the net on illegal fishing
Author: BBC News

04/02/2009
World's major fishing nations failing on sustainability: Scientists grade 53 major fishing nations on how they comply with UN's voluntary code of conduct
Author: Guardian, UK

12/11/2008
Last chance for the oceans?
Author: Guardian, UK

08/08/2008
Globalization is destroying the world's oceans
Author: Free Internet Press, from an article in 'Spiegel Online'

19/06/2008
FAO: New steps toward sustainable trade in fish
Author: Fishupdate.com

02/06/2008
FAO: Half of world fish trade sourced from developing countries
Author: Fishupdate.com

profiles

Mamy Andriantsoa
I am The Director of Fisheries and Halieutic Resources in the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries in Madagascar ...

Peter Eade
I can help to design and provide Monitoring Control and Surveillance solutions (including VMS) for Fisheries Authorities worlwide. ...

SA Casey Oravetz
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