Illegal, Unreported, & Unregulated Fishing: What is the World Doing to Combat This Issue?
Nathaniel Harris
POLS 327-3 International Law & Organization
November 27, 2018
Throughout the world, a crime is being committed that negatively impacts the economy of local communities, international relations, and the environment. Illegal fishing is taking place in the coastal waters of different nations and in the open waters of any and every ocean on earth.1 Criminals are stealing, negatively impacting economies, destroying the environment, and endangering communities through a direct disregard of international law. These criminals operate within the territorial waters of States without their approval and poach the sea life in that area in order to collect an income from its sale. Currently, there are steps being taken by certain countries to improve the monitorization of the illegal fishing and stop the sale of the poached sea life, but the sale of the sea life is only one small factor in this illegal activity.1 There are certain implications this illegal activity has on the international community and they will be explored throughout this paper. A council of States should be created by the international community to stop illegal fishing throughout international waters, in order to protect local communities and their economies, international relations between countries, and the environment.
Throughout the world, over a billion people rely on healthy oceans to provide them jobs and food every day. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), about $1.5 trillion is contributed from oceans annually.2 In addition to this large sum of money, fisheries (to include capture fisheries that work in smaller-scale operations in developing countries) and aquacultural jobs employ around 60 million people. These employers rely on the safety, sovereignty of waters, and regulated access to healthy ocean water to produce its average of 171 million tons of fish per year.2 This equals about US$362 Billion and accounts for US$143 Billion in exports annually.2 According to the World Atlas, the top 10 countries that rely on fishing and have the highest number of people employed in these fisheries and aquacultural jobs are: China, Norway, Vietnam, United States of America, India, Canada, Chile, Sweden, The Netherlands, and Indonesia. These countries national and local economies rely on access to ocean waters in order to catch, process, transport, and sell their seafood to help sustain their economies.3 Therefore, the effects of illegal fishing have the biggest impact on these countries.
In order to lawfully harvest their catches, certain rules must be followed by these countries. These laws come from the Law of the Sea. The Law of the Sea is a “branch of international law concerned with public order at sea”. Much of these laws are found in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and highlight a comprehensive “regime of law and order in the world’s oceans and seas establishing rules governing all uses of the oceans and their resources. It enshrines the notion that all problems of ocean space are closely interrelated and need to be addressed as a whole.”4 Important laws to focus on in the realm of this paper include the range of authority states have over their waters. According to Encyclopedia Britannica and the UN, each country’s “sovereign territorial waters extend to a maximum of 12 nautical miles (22 km) beyond its coast”, but vessels of foreign nationality are allowed innocent passage through this zone.4,5 Passage is considered innocent as long as “a ship refrains from engaging in certain prohibited activities, including weapons testing, spying, smuggling, serious pollution, fishing, or scientific research.”4, Beyond territorial waters, every “coastal country may establish an exclusive economic zone (EEZ)”.6 This zone extends up to 200 nautical miles or 370 km from shore.6 Within this EEZ the coastal state has authority of regulation and exploitation of fisheries, construction of man-made islands, use the zone for additional economic purposes (e.g., the generation of energy from waves), and the regulation of scientific research by vessels under foreign nationality.6 If foreign vessels (and aircraft) are moving through and not participating in any of the recently mentioned activities, they may freely pass through and over the zone.6
In regards to the seabed that lies beyond territorial waters, every coastal country has rights to oil, gas, and any other resources in, or upon, the seabed– up to 200 nautical miles from the shoreline or to “the outer edge of the continental margin, whichever is the further.”6 This is “subject to an overall limit of 350 nautical miles (650 km) from the coast or 100 nautical miles (185 km) beyond the 2,500-metre isobath (a line connecting equal points of water depth)”.6 In accordance with the UNCLOS, this area is known as the continental shelf, though it differs considerably from the geological makeup of the continental shelf. “Where the territorial waters, EEZs, or continental shelves of neighboring countries overlap, a boundary line must be drawn by agreement to achieve an equitable solution”.6 Many agreements on these boundaries have been met, but in some cases, specifically countries were unable to reach agreement, a determination was made by the International Court of Justice, or by an arbitration tribunal, on the boundary line.6 Lastly, the high seas lie furthest beyond the described zones. This area’s airspace and water is open for use by all countries, except for any activity prohibited by international law.6 The high seas also maintain a regime for a seabed. This is known as “the International Seabed Area (also known as “the Area”), for which the 1982 convention established a separate and detailed legal regime”. Under the regime, which was modified by treaty in 1994, the ocean floor beneath the high seas are deemed “the common heritage of mankind,” and any exploitation is led and administered by the International Seabed Authority (ISA). However, with every law and regulation, there comes those who decide not to abide by them and instead decide to break the rules, many times for their own personal gain.
Currently throughout the world, illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing is taking place on a daily basis by both small communities and large States. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries department, illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing activities “violate both national and international fishing regulations.” Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing is considered a threat to the rest of the globe and has a negative impact on the sustainability of fisheries and ecosystems throughout the ocean.8 IUU fishing records up to “26 million tonnes, which is worth $23 Billion a year” according to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO).8 While IUU fishing not only negatively impacts the environment and fisheries throughout the world, it threatens the security of State’s economies and natural resources that are said to be critical to global security and can, at times, impede the freedom of harvest and catch of sea life by law abiding fishermen.
IUU or illegal fishing, unreported fishing, and unregulated fishing is broken up into three categories for a reason, each has distinguishing features that help international organizations, such as the UN, EU, or NOAA, categorize the crimes themselves. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries reports the three categories as the following: illegal fishing “refers to fishing activities conducted in contravention of applicable laws and regulations, including those laws and rules adopted at the regional and international level.”10 This is in regard to the direct practice of catching and slaughtering of sea life and it being conducted in conjunction with laws already set in place. Next, unreported fishing “refers to fishing activities that are not reported or are misreported to relevant authorities in contravention of national laws and regulations or reporting procedures of a relevant regional fisheries management organization.” This category refers to fishing activities that are just plainly not reported or misreported and therefore cannot be tracked by those who oversee the practice of fishing, or those who manage the fisheries themselves. Lastly, unregulated fishing “occurs in areas for which there are no applicable conservation or management measures and where such fishing activities are conducted in a manner inconsistent with State responsibilities for the conservation of living marine resources under international law.”10 This simply put means that the catch and slaughter of said sea life is occurring in areas that cannot accurately be monitored by said States and is being conducted without concern for the conservation of the species.
Illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing takes place in every ocean on earth and effects people and their States, from major corporations all the way down to small fishing communities that rely on successful harvest, to sustain and stimulate their economy. One of the best examples of this in the form of a small community within the State of Cabo Verde. Cabo Verde is a sovereign nation made up of a small cluster of 10 islands off the coast of the continent of Africa. Without any natural resources to produce economic growth and stability for the country, the people of Cabo Verde rely on fishing for a source of fiscal gain through market sales, as well as a major source of food – from ocean to table.
During the summer of 2018, a group of Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) Cadets were sent to Cabo Verde on a Cultural Understanding & Leadership Program deployment. According to the Department of the Army, United States Cadet Command, CULP is where Army Cadets experience up to three different types of immersion, including a military to military exchange with the host nation, humanitarian aid, and receive educational experiences on the cultural, social, and historical aspects of said country. “In 2018, CU&LP deployed teams of SROTC Cadets to develop culturally astute future leaders, strengthen strategic relationships, and support theater security cooperation objectives.”12 During this deployment, Cadets experienced another countries culture in order to improve their interpersonal tact, ability to build relationships with others, improvement of leadership skills, and allowed training alongside another military.
Through participation in this program, Cadets had a firsthand view and gained knowledge on the impacts of illegal fishing on a community, especially that of a large State negatively impacting a smaller State. Cabo Verde is a sovereign nation made up of a cluster of 10 small islands located off the coast of the continent of Africa.11 Cabo Verde’s history and culture is rich in that of the harvest and sale of seafood, from its time as a Portuguese colony, through its gaining of independence in 1975, all the way up to today.11 Cabo Verde has no natural resources available for exportation and sale, therefore it relies on its surrounding waters to provide a base for its economy — fishing. The Cabo Verdeans work in groups to float atop their waters in little wooden boats powered by small motors they save up money to import. Being in the middle of the ocean, they must have powerful engines on their small rafts to withstand the force of the weather and waves, no man can row through the gales they receive there. The Cabo Verdeans patrol their waters, fishing in same place their ancestors have for decades, but report a shocking occurrence — their fish harvests are growing smaller and smaller each year. While talking to the fishermen and working with their military, the Cadets began to understand the problem: the Chinese are poaching the waters. Cabo Verde’s Navy is small and partially relies on “limited U.S. security, counternarcotic, and law enforcement assistance . . . to build the capacity of Cabo Verde’s military and police to respond effectively to various security challenges.”
Based off of what was seen in Cabo Verde by the Army ROTC Cadets, Cabo Verde is struggling to enforce the sovereignty of their waters due to their small military presence in the country, therefore the Chinese continue to use their massive ships, advanced technology, and equipment to take advantage of this lack of security to overfish this small country’s waters. This not only is illegal internationally, but it has a severe impact on the environment and economy of Cabo Verde. As was talked about in class, fish population growth rates are based on the yearly average of loss for that species. If a population consistently loses an average number then its rate of growth stays consistent, but if all of the sudden a species experiences a large drop in numbers, it will struggle to catch up that next year, less fish in the water equals less reproduction.
Once the Chinese discovered the vulnerability of the Cabo Verdeans, they have been overfishing and depleting the number of fish in the waters surrounding the islands. This hurts the ocean life as well as the economy of the Cabo Verdeans. If the harvest numbers are down, that means so is the money going into the pockets of the island people. The Cadets saw firsthand that fishing is one of the only sources of income for the people, therefore this illegal activity has severe implications on the livelihoods of the people that live there. Something must be done to prevent these criminal acts by States. Cabo Verde is just one example of a State's waters being taken advantage of, but luckily, the United States has begun a new program to address issues of this nature.
The United States is listed on the World Atlas as the fifth most country in the world that relies on fishing and harvest of oceanic marine life to stimulate its economy and is also considered one of the largest countries economically making it one of the worlds superpowers as discussed in our class. Therefore, it should be the leader in a new drive to regulate illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing throughout the world, and lead it has. The United States is taking steps to enforce a program established in December of 2016 to “address illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing products entering the market.” This new rule came into effect January 1st of 2018 and has set up “reporting and record-keeping requirements for certain seafood products to prevent IUU-caught and/or misrepresented seafood from entering US commerce.”15
According to World Wildlife, this program will be applied in phases, the first phase is an initial list compiled of imported fish and fish products identified as particularly vulnerable to illegal fishing and fraud.15 Not only is this a good practice for the United States to maintain the integrity of the fishing market within itself, but it is a practice that the rest of the world should begin to implement. The United States has begun to pave the way for the combating of IUU fishing. With this being said, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries published a more detailed report on the basis of the United States efforts seeing as, “combating IUU fishing is a top priority for our nation (US).” Currently, the United States is leading efforts to fight this growing problem in a number of ways.16
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries reports that the United States has begun to work with foreign fishing nations through regional fisheries and partnerships with other international States.16 They work through strengthening data collection programs and enforcement of this data collection who’s main goal is to detect, deter, and eliminate IUU fishing.16 In addition to this enforcement and data collection, the United States has begun taking the necessary steps to restrict entry and access to port services for any vessels that are said to be listed in the IUU record of international fisheries organizations with US membership, this is being done through a “Port State Measurement Agreement.”16 Another way the United States is tracking this list of international fisheries engaged in IUU fishing activity is through its identification and recording of countries that have vessels involved in IUU fishing activities, under biennial reports to congress and the Magnuson-Stevens Reauthorization Act.16
While the United States is working on its side of the pond, the European Union has also begun taking the necessary steps to fight this problem on its own. The European Union has already published regulations regarding IUU and has been working to amend them. “The Council Regulation . . . seeks to establish a community system to ‘prevent, deter, and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing”. This community system focuses on that of the exports of fish and similar products, from developing countries apart of the EU market.18 This reformation in regulation would mean that the EU would no longer accept exports of fish from States that do not comply with the prevention, deterrence, and elimination of IUU.18 This creates a sense of ‘zero-tolerance’, a complete cut-off of exports/imports of goods into the EU. However, States that do comply with these regulations will be supplied with “Catch Certificates” to help track their harvest of maritime life to prove the legitimacy of the catch and exportation.18 States that are no longer allowed to do business with the EU due to IUU fishing are put onto a “community vessel list” and vessels apart of that States, regardless of whether they have a “catch certificate” will be barred from doing business within the EU.18 With the implementation of regulations by these two major entities in the international community comes room for improvement. As one can see in this section of the paper, China has been left out of the discussion regarding the fight against IUU fishing. That is because as of recently (5 Sept. 2017) China’s only effort to work multilaterally to combat IUU fishing has been with the State of Ecuador.
According to Zhang Xianliang, director general of fisheries and fisheries administration at the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture, “The Chinese Ministry of Agriculture is ready to establish intergovernmental communication mechanisms with the relevant departments of the fishing sector of Ecuador with the aim . . . (of) pursuing illegal fishing activities.”19 Further within this statement, Xianling states that the intergovernmental communication would include the exchange of information regarding the protection of marine flora and fauna resources, as well. China’s attempt to work multilaterally on this issue with only a single State is ultimately impeding the ability of other States to establish communal doctrine to combat this issue as a team, instead of individually. The more individuals at play, the less continuity and shared understanding there is within the realm of global cooperation. This can be seen as one of the major drawbacks of the current systems in place and therefore must be changed if the world expects this problem to be eliminated in the future.
In order to truly combat IUU fishing at the highest level, world superpowers need to create a combined effort and increase their level of global cooperation. Yes, there are multilateral steps being taken by certain States to increase focus in IUU fishing, but only a globally combined effort can truly put this issue to rest. With the current players involved in combatting this issue, such as the United States, European Union, and multiple other countries, a single body must unite to enforce the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea, and more importantly, create shared doctrine to preside over every nation on earth involved in fishing and exportation of said goods. Similar to how the United Nations Security Council is established, a council of the 10 major States of fishing and fisheries (China, Norway, Vietnam, United States of America, India, Canada, Chile, Sweden, The Netherlands, and Indonesia) should spear head this initiative to establish a council and base of regulations to provide continuity across the world. With how the current system is established, there are different regulations and enforcement between countries. This muddies the water of expectations on IUU fishing and what that exactly entails for those participating in the fishing throughout the world. To clarify, the United States should have the same regulations and standards for their imports and exports of maritime resources and harvested sea life, as the EU, China, countries located in Africa, and other countries throughout the world. One cannot stress enough the importance of this global issue and how international cooperation can make or break the world’s success.
“Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing is prevalent worldwide and has been identified as one of the greatest threats to marine ecosystems by the UN General Assembly.” Therefore, this is an important issue that must continue to be dealt with by the international community. In order to promote and create a shared understanding of regulations and a continuity of doctrine, States must come together to fight this important issue. It is important for the international community to have this shared understanding to promote a sense of security for protecting local communities and their economies, international relations between countries, and the environment. The continued use of the international community to create, regulate, and enforce doctrine and laws set in place will most certainly create a sense of heightened security in small communities which in turn will help provide stability to their economies. This is especially seen in the example of Cabo Verde fishermen. In addition to States being held to higher standards of processes and regulation, a heightened sense of accountability of other larger states to monitor and enforce said laws that are being put into place. It is obvious that a community’s economic success contributes to the overall stimulation of a State’s economy. Therefore, without the success of the communities, the overall economy of a State will suffer, as one can again see in Cabo Verde. It is important to keep in mind, the Cabo Verdean example is not an isolated incident, but a perfect example of something that is taking place around the globe.
In conclusion, a crime is being committed throughout the world that negatively impacts the economy of local communities, international relations, and the environment. Throughout this paper, the entities that lead the world in seafood sale and exportation were identified and certain aspects of International Law of the Sea were examined. In addition to these things, legal and illegal fishing was defined and current processes to combat illegal activities were evaluated, with new ideas being brought to life. Ultimately, it is clear that steps must continue to be taken by the international community to stop illegal fishing throughout international waters. A council of States should be created by the international community to stop illegal fishing throughout international waters, in order to protect local communities and their economies, international relations between countries, and the environment. Cabo Verde may be used as a small example of why this is important, but this is just one of the many cases of IUU fishing around the world. As one stands ashore any one of the islands that make up Cabo Verde, it is clear how much fishing means to the men and women of the small island communities. Their passion, drive, and love for their trade is rivaled by little to nothing. While some people may fish for enjoyment, sport, or financial gain and use massive amounts of technology and expensive equipment, the fishermen and women of small communities around the world use their bare hands, wooden rod poles, and old nets to catch their food and source of income. Unless countries are held to a higher standard and fishing activities are more enforced, do not be surprised if small communities, such as the ones that reside in Cabo Verde, cease to exist as their food is caught faster and more efficiently by countries that should not even be there.