Political inaction blocks fight against global illegal fishing

Illegal fishing drains billions from the global economy each year. [AFP]

 Illegal fishing drains up to $50 billion (Sh6.47 trillion) from the world economy every year, yet the tools needed to stop it cost governments nothing to deploy.

That contradiction sat at the heart of a new transparency pledge signed by 15 countries in Mombasa last week, as advocates warned that political inaction, not technology or money, remains the biggest obstacle to cleaning up global fisheries.

The agreement, known as the Mombasa Declaration, calls for greater disclosure of vessel ownership, fishing authorisations, and catch activity in an effort to close enforcement gaps that have long allowed illegal operators to work undisturbed in international waters.

"The core problem is that fishing can be a largely opaque and difficult-to-monitor industry. Vessels operate far from shore and catches change hands multiple times before reaching consumers," said Dominic Thomson, Director of Squid Fisheries at the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), in an exclusive interview with the Standard.

Thomson noted that trans-shipment at sea, where catch, crew and fuel transfer between vessels without touching a monitored port, allowed illegally caught fish to enter legal supply chains undetected.

EJF's report, Out of Sight, Out of Control, documented the practice across major squid fishing grounds in the Southwest Atlantic, Southeast Pacific and Northwest Indian Ocean.

A joint World Bank, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and International Labour Organisation (ILO) study estimated illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing costs the global economy up to $50 billion (Sh6.47 trillion) annually, while eroding food security and tax revenues in coastal states.

The FAO's State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2024 report found that about 35 per cent of global fish stocks are now overfished, driven in part by industrial fleets operating in poorly monitored waters, and identifies IUU fishing as a key factor slowing stock recovery, particularly where vessel ownership structures are opaque.

The World Bank estimates more than three billion people rely on fish as a major source of protein, with dependence highest in West Africa, Southeast Asia and small island states, raising concern over the long-term impact of depleted stocks.

Publishing a fishing licence list, one of the declaration's core commitments, requires no new technology, as every licensing authority already holds that data, making it an administrative decision rather than an investment.

Thailand has maintained a public licence list since at least 2018, demonstrating that the barrier in most cases is political will rather than capacity.

The declaration brings together countries from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe and the Pacific, including Belgium, Cameroon, Chile, France, Ghana, Liberia, Panama, Peru, Somalia and South Korea.

It aligns with the Global Charter for Fisheries Transparency, which proposes 10 governance measures aimed at improving accountability in fisheries management systems that are often fragmented across jurisdictions.

Thomson noted that inshore exclusion zones, coastal waters legally reserved for small-scale fishers where commercial vessels are prohibited, were rendered ineffective without monitoring.

"If a trawler enters an exclusion zone and no registry exists to establish it should not be there, the chances of detection and prosecution are low," noted Thomson.

Although non-binding, the declaration reflects growing pressure on governments to treat fisheries transparency as a baseline condition for ocean governance rather than a voluntary reform.

More countries are expected to join before the next Our Ocean Conference in 2027.