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Without a Worldwide Unique Vessel Identifier (WUVI) database, the International community has largely relied on data in self-created combined vessel lists for spatiotemporal mappings of fishing presence, effort, and footprint. Projects match fishing vessel registration identifiers to their alleged AIS MMSI numbers using these vessel lists. This study aims to prove that this method has yielded a large number of erroneous ship identification references. Global Fishing Watch, one of the largest vessel identification projects, is crosschecked with the vessel data that the study gathered and found that it suffers from major flaws and biases. Such errors put at risk both the creditability of the GFW and private/independent fisheries monitoring control & surveillance (MCS) initiatives. Not only should projects use more scientific responsibility, but a worldwide database could also help end the data-gathering methods that brought these mistakes about.

Agreed on by leading NGOs engaged in global tuna sustainability, the best practices outlined ensure that at-sea transshipment is well-managed and transparent. The best practices come in three facets: management best practices, data reporting best practices, and monitoring best practices. The policies include 100 percent observer coverage either human or electronic for all at-sea transshipment events, require information on all at-sea transshipment events to be shared with the relevant RFMO, prohibit vessels from acting as both a fishing vessel and carrier vessel on the same trip and a multitude of other policies that fisheries can work towards implementing.

To combat IUU fishing facilitated by at-sea transshipment, the Indonesian government banned the activity in 2014. Enforcing the ban, however, has been difficult due to the challenges of detecting and monitoring transshipment activities at sea. This study provides a suite of indicators for longline and purse seine fisheries in Indonesian waters as a useful tool to underpin monitoring, control, and surveillance activities to reduce IUU fishing. Through this analysis, the extent of increased enforcement and legislation managing transshipment puts Indonesia at the forefront of nations addressing IUU fishing.

The inadequate regulatory control and monitoring of transshipment, especially at sea, create gaps that enable illicit activity. Recognizing this inadequacy and its consequences, the Pew Charitable Trusts calls for a ban on transshipment until best practices are implemented. They outline multiple best practices across three categories, reporting, monitoring, and data-sharing. By implementing these practices, all parties can be assured that adequate guidelines are in place to make transshipment a more effective and safe practice, not contributing to IUU fishing.

The number of reported high-seas transshipment events in the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) Convention Area has increased by over 94% between 2014 and 2018. This growth in transshipment activity has not been met with equal management and monitoring regulations. The Commission implemented Resolution 18-06 requiring that all transshipments occur in port but allows large-scale tuna fishing vessels (LSTVs) to transship at sea if they are authorized by their flag CPC and comply with other specific requirements. However, this paper analyzes transshipment operations reported to have occurred within the IOTC Convention Area and finds that the resolution has flaws and that high-seas transshipment is increasing with insufficient monitoring and compliance. All of these problems are given a recommendation on how to address them.

The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) has seen a staggering growth in transshipment activity within its Convention Area. Using publicly available information on transshipment
operations within the WCPFC, the WCPFC provides an analysis of transshipment and recognizes the need for additional management rules on transshipment within its Convention Area. Their analysis shows flaws in managing transshipment events and sharing and reporting data between other RFMOs and within their own carrier observers. Implementation of the best practices developed by the Pew Charitable Trusts could be a solution to this issue.

The UN adopted the Port State Measures Agreement (PMSA) in 2009 to stop the use of ports by IUU fishing and support vessels. However cost-effective they are, in many countries, particularly developing countries, a comprehensive set of tools is needed to support the practical implementation of the Agreement. To achieve this, the Pew Environmental Group developed the PMSA Toolkit, a resource that aims to help developing countries identify their capacity needs, provide them with key information, and guide them through the most technical and detailed elements of the Agreement.

The Ports Task Force Ghana (PTFG) is working diligently to implement the National Strategy and Action Plan for the implementation of the 2009 FAO Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing and complimentary international instruments and mechanisms. They have identified the threats of allowing IUU fishing to move through their ports for what it does to local fisheries, the economy, and the country's people. Through a detailed course of action and various partnerships, PTFG will work to bring an end to vessels suspected of participating in IUU from entering Ghana's ports.

IUU fishing contributes to the over-exploitation of natural fisheries resources and is detrimental to coastal communities' quality of life. IUU fishing has targeted African ports, which are at particularly great harm from the practice. To deter IUU fishing, the Port State Measure Agreement (PMSA) came into force to enable port officials to deny foreign vessels access to their port and services such as refueling and repairs if suspected of illegal activities. However, Stop Illegal Fishing recognizes the agreement itself is not enough. With the support of others, they will work to implement the PMSA in African countries through a holistic approach that requires looking at legal and policy issues, compliance and enforcement, and cooperation and awareness.

The UN's ambitious PMSA intends to stop IUU vessels from entering port and ensure that vessels are complying with conservation and management measures, among other responsibilities. However, developing nations were concerned about the resources required to build this capacity. In response, the PEW Environment group is working to create a Capacity Needs Assessment (CNA) methodology, a tool states can use to find a personalized strategy in implanting the PSMA. The PMSA capacity building needs run the risk of being unfeasible for developing nations, but this CNA methodology provides a clear and accessible tool for bridging this divide.

Liam Campling identifies a new tuna 'commodity frontier' that has a historical-geographical development with European fishing fleets (entirely in France and Spain) in the Eastern Tropical Atlantic and the Western Indian Ocean. In explaining how this commodity frontier came to be, Campling articulates two relations that function simultaneously at the point of production in industrial capture fisheries: vertical relations and horizontal relations. Capital has to adapt to a decline in relative ecological development, constantly holding in tension between the synthetic and the organic, coupled with increased competition between fishing firms. Together, these forces have created a commodity frontier with a clear history and provide a blueprint to analyze further capture fisheries.

This study quantifies the economics (efforts, cost, and benefit) of high-seas fishing. Using the Global Fishing Watch database, the study was able to characterize the global high-seas fleet which enabled them to calculate the costs of fishing. Then, using total fisheries catch from the high-seas they could calculate revenue. Together, the study finds that without government subsidies, most fisheries are unprofitable. This reliance on subsidies and the overall profitability of high-seas fishing alters where high-seas fishing is conducted and what type of fisheries is utilized.

This study presents a cost-benefit analysis of engaging in IUU fishing. The benefits of IUU fishing include an increase in the amount of catch realized, a low cost of fishing, and lower effort per catch, while costs include the likelihood of being detected, how much it takes to avoid detection, and how severe the penalties are if caught. The study concludes that there are simply too many benefits and not enough costs to not engage in IUU fishing–meaning that detection would have to be higher, fines levied would have to be higher, and costs of fishing would have to decrease. The economic gains realized from IUU fishing corroborate why it is so widespread globally but is also another way to think about how to best regulate the practice and put an end to IUU fishing.

The IUU fishing index was created to provide a benchmark for 152 coastal countries on their exposure and response to IUU fishing. With this benchmark, various parties (governments, RFMOs, donors) can recognize where intervention is needed. With the scores of each country divided by responsibility (coastal, flag, port, general) and type of action to combat IUU fishing (vulnerability, prevalence, response), the paper calculated a score for every coastal country. With this index as a benchmark, bodies around the world can begin to recognize where help is needed to combat IUU fishing and provide personalized responses, with well-performing countries serving as a point of comparison.

Mexico has access to an extensive coastline that has served the country by becoming a primary source of food and job creation. The increase in fisheries has also come at the cost of increasing corruption and a limited capacity for monitoring and enforcement resulting in significant IUU catch. Unreported and illegal fishing accounts for a high percentage of reported catch; this study aims to estimate unreported fisheries catches in Mexico from 1950 to 2010 through catch reconstructions. Results show that from 1950 to 2010, total fisheries catch was almost twice as high as the official statistics reported to the FAO. Knowing these figures, Mexico can move towards better managing their fish stock–specifically when it comes to bycatch and discards.

Trawling is recognized as ecologically destructive and unsustainable and contributes to widespread IUU fishing in Indonesia. The number of trawlers is highest in North Sumatra, even though trawlers were banned in Indonesian waters in 1980. Indonesian authorities, because of bribery and corruption, have been unwilling to enforce the ban, leading to a rise in trawler activity. Trawlers often illegally enter a 3-mile zone reserved for traditional fishing activities. This invasion has led to ecological harm to the area, a decrease in stock leading to increasingly less income and a collapse of local fisheries, and most alarmingly, high levels of violence and conflict, sometimes leading to death. JALA is working with local fisheries to represent their needs to the Indonesian government and provide a solution for this urgent situation.

This report considers obstacles to, and opportunities for, more effective action to address IUU fishing and the role the role that transnational organised crime plays in the IUU fishing industry. This report examines the experiences in five countries: Indonesia; Thailand; Vietnam; Tanzania; and South Africa and examines the approaches taken by those states and the successes and failures of their policies.

Stop Illegal Fishing's (SIF) mission is to combat IUU fishing, particularly in coastal African countries. To complete this goal, SIF has partnered with multiple African fisheries to implement the Port State Measure Agreement. SIF has a robust system to recognize and take action against illegally caught fish and illegal vessels (a check, inspect, and act process), which they are now developing into standard operating procedures (SOPs) that they train on the ground. They have also aided multiple task forces around Africa which translate into greater regional and international cooperation. Through their work in 2019, SIF is helping achieve a more equitable and effective blue economy.

FISH-i Africa has identified an increasing number of squid vessels operating in the Northwest Indian Ocean (NWIO). The problem is that these squid fisheries are unregulated because the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (the region's RFMO) only has a mandate over tuna and tuna-like species. These fisheries are deliberately fishing on the high seas outside countries' EEZ zones to bypass national jurisdiction. The report gives a detailed account of the activity and characteristics of this emerging squid fishery and provides sound reasoning for immediate management frameworks to protect the region and the species.

The 1995 FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (the Code) provides a set of international standards for responsible behaviour in the fisheries sector with to ensure the effective conservation, management and development of living aquatic resources, with due respect for the ecosystem and biodiversity. The Code is non-binding document and provides the framework for the development of other voluntary instruments including guidelines and international plans of action.