Fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishery

Contribution to the daily struggle against illegal fishing downstream of the fishing industry

The illegal, unreported and unregulated fishery (IUU) seriously compromises the sustainable management of marine resources globally. According to recent estimates, the "turnover" linked to global IUU fishing would amount to more than 10 billion euros, which puts the industry IUU the second largest producer of fish in terms of value, just behind China.

IUU fishing is a global problem. It is also a problem for which the European Union is called upon to play a leading role. It has indeed a fishing fleet among the most important and represents the third largest in terms of catches. It is also the largest market of fishery products in the world and the largest importer of these products. The imports of IUU fishing in the EU have been evaluated, at least, to 1.1 billion euros per year.

The loss is much more than economic. In many cases, IUU fishing also has a high environmental cost. At a time when 75% of global fish stocks are exploited to their maximum level, even over-exploited by fishing lawful, IUU fishing is an insidious evil that threatens to worsen an already worrying situation. This threat also weighed on vulnerable marine ecosystems, even though the international community strives to protect these ecosystems against destructive fishing practices.

Founding documents:

• The fight against IUU fishing-Proposal of the RFA, updated 04/02/2008. 
• EU Parliament Fisheries Committee-RFA Presentation. 27/02/2008.

Other documents of interest:

• Report of the EFTEC (Economics for the Environment Consultancy Ltd), November 2008. With the kind permission of The Pew Environment Trust.