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This study builds upon the March 2014 WWF Emerging Technologies Workshop which held a goal to
help FFA Member countries better understand the existing MCS environment and objectively review and
assess available emerging technologies that might help to contribute to less expensive, more effective and
more efficient MCS efforts at both a national and regional level. This study attempts to take a systematic
approach towards estimating the strengths, weaknesses and financial costs of a range of emerging and
evolving technologies that could assist in addressing the challenges of fisheries MCS in the Western and
Central Pacific Ocean region.

The PEW Charitable Trusts discusses best practice ways to monitor transshipment in an effort to identify and mitigate IUU fishing. This information sheet recommends and outlines best practices actions relating to reporting and monitoring transshipment events and the sharing of transshipment data among relevant parties.

This study uses AIS data to identify when and where transshipment occurs, which fisheries and fleets are most involved in the practice, and what proportion of the high-seas catch is transshipped versus landed directly, altogether giving a detailed account of global seafood supply chains. Among many other findings, the study finds that fishing in EEZs was mainly landed directly, but on high seas, transshipment largely predominated. Fleet usage also differed with trawlers mainly used in EEZs and longline fishing dominated at high seas. The study ultimately shows how the type of catch and its location shape the infrastructure of the supply food chain involved (i.e. a history of poor monitoring, low compliance, and weak enforcement correlates with a large number of transshipments in Russian waters.) The findings of this study can aid in identifying where illicit activity can be happening and what warrants more monitoring, control, and surveillance.

This paper recognises seafood sustainability and human rights challenges associated with transshipment at sea
and seeks to identify global patterns in order to address these issues. Transshipment at sea, the offloading of catch from a fishing vessel to a refrigerated vessel far from port, can obscure the actual source of the catch. The authors analysed over 10,000 instances of fishing vessels loitering long enough to engage in transshipment of this, roughly 47% of the events occur on the high seas and 42% involve vessels flying flags of convenience.

This report highlights the main hotspots for transshipping at sea noting that almost 40% of all likely transshipment occurred on the high seas, beyond country boundaries. Identifying three significant those being outside the EEZ of Peru, in a high seas pocket north of Russia and Norway and an area close to the EEZ boundary of Argentina, the authors make a number of recommendations to be implemented at the global level in an effort to curb IUU fishing.

Transshipment at sea is a practice where refrigerated cargo vessels, also known as reefers, meet with fishing boats to exchange catch, fresh water, food and crew. Transshipment can greatly extend the time a vessel can spend at sea fishing. However, it compromises the transparency pertaining to environmental and social sustainability within the seafood industry as catch, both legal and illegal, from several fishing vessels are mixed onboard the reefer. Satellite-based AIS data and published data on the distribution of tuna was used to map tuna presence, spawning areas, and diversity. This study aims to connect transshipment vessels and distribution patterns of seven tuna species by correlating tuna distribution and spawning grounds with reefer activity.