Stopping Illegal Unreported And Unregulated Fishing

This booklet describes, in a non-technical manner, some important aspects of the International Plan of Action to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing. The purpose of this booklet is to help familiarize FAO Members and others with the tools for use in dealing with IUU fishing, to suggest which tools to use in particular circumstances and to provide guidance on how to use these tools effectively.

Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing threatens the viability of high seas living resources. This book details the efforts of the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources Commission and the Australian government to adopt complementary measures to deter IUU fishing in the Southern Ocean. It describes how these various measures have proven effective in deterring IUU operators.

The IOPA-IUU is a voluntary instrument that applies to all States and entities and to all fishers. Following the IPOA's introduction, the nature and scope of IUU fishing is addressed. This is followed by the IPOA's objective and principles and the implementation of measures to prevent, deter and eliminate IUU fishing. These measures focus on all State responsibilities, flag State responsibilities, coastal State measures, port State measures, internationally agreed market-related measures, research and regional fisheries management organizations. Special requirements of developing countries are then considered, followed by reporting requirements and the role of FAO.

Analyses the concept of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and the international instruments which provide the legal and policy framework to combat IUU fishing. Palma, Tsamenyi and Edeson, University of Wollongong, Australia.

These guidelines are addressed to decision-makers and policy-makers associated with the management of fisheries, but they should also be of interest to fishing industries and other parties. This Plan of Action is consistent with the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, as well as with the 1993 Agreement to Promote Compliance with International Conservation and Management Measures by Fishing Vessels on the High Seas, the 1995 Agreement for the Implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982 Relating to the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks and other applicable rules of international law. The guidelines are intended to provide general advice and a framework for development and implementation of national plans of action.

This checklist aims to provide users who are the primary actors in implementing the obligations of States under international law, including officials of States and particularly developing States, with a comprehensive checklist in order to assess the level of conformity of the national legal framework with the relevant international legally binding and non-binding instruments relevant to prevent, deter and eliminate IUU fishing. Based on this checklist, the user should be able to assess whether each duty and responsibility is fully / partially / not found in the national legal framework, and to address any identified gaps.

This document complements previous technical guidance documents on planning and executing illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing estimation studies by providing a catalogue of 26 estimation methodologies from published studies. These methodologies encompass a wide range of locations, fishing gear and IUU fishing types. The catalogue is organized around two ways of identifying relevant methodologies: a) the IUU fishing estimation approach; and b) the primary available data source. The five types of IUU fishing estimation approaches (“a”) include: 1) estimating total catch minus reported catch; 2) partitioning total catch into IUU/non-IUU fishing; 3) summing individual IUU fishing events to a total amount; 4) estimating “true” catches for suspect vessels or fleets; and 5) determining relative amounts or trends in IUU fishing. The four types of primary data sources (“b”) include: 1) fishery models; 2) commercial sources; 3) operational data; and 4) expert judgements, comparisons to catch compilations and stakeholder surveys. These two types of approaches help to identify the relevant methodologies presented as concise, individual one- to two-page summaries. Each methodology is described in terms of the key elements needed and how they can be sourced, the specific steps involved in constructing the estimate, and guidance on the applicability of the method.

The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act (MSRA) was adopted by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by the U.S. President in January 2007. This Act contains a number of new provisions that will significantly shape the focus of fisheries management in the coming years. Importantly, the MSRA pays an unprecedented level of attention to international fisheries. The overarching approach is a call for the Secretary of Commerce to work multilaterally through various fora, such as Regional Fishery Management Organizations (RFMOs), to address illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. This book consists of public documents which have been located, gathered, combined, reformatted, and enhanced with a subject index, selectively edited and bound to provide easy access.