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View all search resultsEliminate transnational organized crime in fishing industry
One in every five fish found in the market is likely to be illegally caught or unreported, making illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing one of the primary drivers of overfishing.
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T
he ocean provides humans with many valuable live-sustaining resources. Its global economic value of US$24 trillion dwarfs the largest sovereign wealth funds owned by Norway, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and China, which total $3.1 trillion, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Boston Consulting Group in 2015. The ocean’s economic value derives from marine living resources at $6.9 trillion, shipping lanes at $5.2 trillion, the productive coastline at $7.8 trillion and carbon absorption at $4.3 trillion.
However, the vastness of the ocean also creates challenges to monitor and enforce all activities taking place in it. The ocean’s economic value is dwindling rapidly due to habitat destruction, pollution, impacts of climate change and overfishing. The Food Agriculture Organization (FAO) found in its latest report that 34.2 percent of the global fish stock had been overfished, up from 31.4 percent and 33.1 percent in 2016 and 2018 respectively.
Furthermore, one in every five fish found in the market is likely to be illegally caught or unreported, making illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing one of the primary drivers of overfishing as Sjarief Widjaja et al say in their report IUU Fishing and Associated Drivers (2020).
The lucrative potential of the fisheries sector is appealing to many. Some business players have taken advantage of lax monitoring on the ocean to reap maximum profit by engaging in IUU fishing. Worse, law enforcement officers across the globe have often found crimes that were associated with IUU fishing, such as human rights abuses, human trafficking, document forgery and tax evasion.
Vessels involved in this crime often use forged licenses and registrations documents, and flags of convenience to obscure the beneficial owners. The owners often cloak themselves in shell companies and complex ownership structures. They also employ cheap labor, who are recruited through deception, and abuse them physically and mentally.
These crimes are committed in an organized manner by actors from various nationalities. This fits the definition of transnational organized crime (TOC) under the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime adopted in 2000.
Following these findings, governments and experts have been pushing for the acknowledgment of the connection between IUU fishing and TOC and encourage countries to take necessary actions against IUU fishing.
