Pirates and profiteers: how pirate fishing fleets are robbing people and oceans

This report explores the global nature of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and identifies possible solutions and action that can be taken by governments and the international community to tackle this problem.

The report makes the following points:

• currently seventy-five percent of the world’s fish stocks are fully exploited, over-exploited or depleted according to the FAO. Whilst some governments and international organisations have put in place management measures, increasing restrictions on fishing, combined with growing consumer demand, increase incentives for fishers to resort to clandestine means
• the clandestine nature of IUU fishing makes it extremely difficult to develop accurate assessments of the scope and scale, though it is widely believed to account for a significant proportion of global catches
• efforts to sustainably manage fisheries are severely undermined by IUU fishing, and in extreme circumstances it can lead to the collapse of fish stocks, such as those of the Patagonian toothfish, or seriously impair efforts to rebuild depleted stocks
• the impacts of IUU fishing go beyond the target fish stocks and can have a detrimental effect on the wider marine ecosystem, and the food security and livelihoods of coastal populations in developing countries
• strong economic incentives exist to encourage IUU fishing that are not effectively addressed by current national or international controls.

The report uses West Africa’s coastal fisheries, upon which millions of local people are dependent for protein and employment, to highlight how IUU operators exploit the lack of capacity in many developing countries to police their own fisheries and take advantage of the poverty in developing countries to secure the lowest possible running costs for their operations.

Measures identified by the report to address this issue include:

• the enhancement of monitoring, control and surveillance capabilities
• control of at-sea transhipment
• strengthening of port restrictions
• the use of market-led initiatives.