Fisheries crime describes the wide range of criminal activity that is common along the entire value chain of the fishing sector. It often occurs in conjunction with Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU), but next to illegal fish extraction include for example corruption, document fraud, tax evasion, money laundering, kidnapping, human trafficking and drug trafficking. The issue recently received increased attention in the UN, Interpol, and several other international bodies.
In the UN fisheries crimes gained relevance due to the realization that industrial fishing has close links to transnational organized crime, that the industry is vulnerable to criminal activities all along its value chain, and that the traditional fisheries management approach under the Food and Agriculture Organization are not fit to meet these challenges.
Enablers of fisheries crime Fisheries crimes are enabled by weak national and regional governance, a lack of cooperation between countries and their law enforcement agencies, and the adaptivity of criminals on the seas. The modern fishing industry is characterised by complex international supply chains and by industrial trawlers that spend long time on sea and operate over long distances, which makes it difficult to monitor the vessels and enact laws and regulations.
It is very easy for ship owners to change the names of their vessels, the flag they sail under, and the ports they use. Flags of convenience and flag hopping play an essential role in enabling fisheries crime. Under UNCLOS the flag state of a vessel has the responsibility to exercise jurisdiction over the vessel and among other also prevent IUU fishing. Fishing vessels involved in illegal activities will strategically change their flag. Often vessels will also not have a flag registration and therefore be stateless during illegal activities. Changing or unclear ownership makes it almost impossible for law enforcement to act on fisheries crimes. These dynamics make it very difficult to determine which state has jurisdiction over the criminal vessels.
Fish is the most traded food commodity in the world and high demand makes fish a profitable resource. However, declining fish stocks and overfishing incentivise illegal fish extraction and other kinds of crime with the purpose of cutting cost. These factors, combines with the poor oversight and transnational nature of the fishing industry make it extremely venerable to illegal practices and organized crime structures.
Other factors that contribute to the vulnerability of the industry are, inadequate monitoring programs, unclear ownership of vessels, poor socio-economic conditions for fishers and fishing communities, weak enforcement by flag and port states, corruption, and insufficient international regulations for safety and working conditions of fishermen.Witbooi, Emma; Ali, Kamal-Deen; Santosa, Mas Achmad; Hurley, Gail; Husein, Yunus; Maharaj, Sarika; Okafor-Yarwood, Ifesinachi; Quiroz, Inés Arroyo; Salas, Omar (2020-12-03). "Organized crime in the fisheries sector threatens a sustainable ocean economy". Nature. 588 (7836): 48–56. ISSN 0028-0836.
Types of fisheries crime Fisheries crime is often connected to IUU and includes a wide range of crimes along the entire fishing supply chain. The transnational and organized nature of fisheries crime leads the entire value chain to be vulnerable to various crimes that are often connected to one another. International organized crime's involvement in illegal fishing activities is constantly growing due to the perceived low-risk and high reward of these activities. There are limited studies that can quantify the prevalence of crime and organized criminal structures in the fishing sector as the illusive nature of these activities make them hard to measure. However, reports and anecdotal evidence suggests that organized criminal groups increasingly take advantage of the opportunities the sector provides.
Fraud The fishing industry is especially vulnerable to fraud and falsified documentation. Especially documents with high monetary value, such as vessel registration certificates, landing documents and fishing licences are being forged. These activities are often associated with ‘flag hopping’ and include sailing under a wrong flag, disguising a vessel's identity, or altering documents. Moreover, catch records can be altered to avoid quotas, product might be labelled to avoid customs payments. Another common type of fraud is food fraud which includes mislabelling of food, species substitution, counterfeiting, or dilution.UNODC. (2017). Stretching the Fishnet: Identifying Opportunities to Address Fisheries Crime. Conference Edition (UNODC: Vienna). Stretching_the_Fishnet.pdf (unodc.org).
Corruption Corruption occurs at all stages of the fishing value chain. Politicians are bribed to influence license allocation, ship registrations can be obtained using bribes, bribes might be paid to avoid fines or fines will not be reported and embezzled by officials. Another common form of corruption is the bribery of fishing inspectors to support wrongful documentation or ignore other crimes such as forced labour.
Tax crime Due to the transnational nature of the fishing industry and the easy with which vessels can change their flag, tax avoidance is commonplace in the industry. These crimes also go hand in hand with document fraud and similar offences.
Common forms of tax crime in the fishing industry include evasion of income tax, social security fraud, evasion of import and export duties and false claims regarding VAT repayments.
Money laundering Transnational organized crime groups use money laundering to conceal the illegal origins of their proceeds and enable them to spend it in the legitimate market. In the fishing industry this include acquisition of assets such as fishing vessels or through cash salary pay-outs.
Fish laundering Related to money laundering is the crime of fish laundering where illegally extracted fish is mixed with legally caught fish before landing to conceal its origin. Several fishing vessels will transfer their catch to refrigerator vessels where the fish is mixed. Refrigerator vessels are often exempt from catch documentation requirements which facilitates laundering.
Fishing vessels also commonly call to several ports to unload their catch. At each port the vessel can then unload a full quota of caught fish to avoid catch maximums.
To circumvent minimum size rules of fish, fishing vessels will unload their catch in aquaculture facilities, where they are kept until they have grown large enough to be sold.
Human trafficking and labour crime Human trafficking and modern slavery are commonly used by organized crime groups to cut costs and is common in the fishing industry around the globe, where it effects mostly fishermen and sailors. However, also in land based operations cases of forced labour are not uncommon.
As coastal overfishing causes decreased profitability and increased IUU fishing, organized crime groups often try to lower the costs of their fishing operations by decreasing labour costs. Forced labour in IUU fishing has also provided vessels with the economic opportunity of fishing on the high seas, a venture that is otherwise untenable due to excessive costs. A common method is the deception of workers to lure them into forced labour on fishing vessels. Workers are commonly recruited through recruitment agency that under false promises lure workers into signing unfavourable contracts. Once on a vessel the workers will then be entrapped through dept bondage, threats of violence, and withholding of their passports and other documents.
Victims are commonly found to be from countries linked to economic and political underdevelopment and instability. With this leading to increased cases of unemployment, individuals are drawn to opportunities which are unregulated and exploitative in nature. This is evident in the rising issue in the Gulf of Guinea off of West Africa, a current hotspot for maritime crimes.Dechery, C. and Ralton, L. (2015) Trafficking and Fragility in West Africa [online] https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/401851468184741492/pdf/98903-WP-AFR-P148420-Box-393185B-PUBLIC-Trafficking-FINAL.pdf
Several academics cite the corruption, poverty and unemployment as a consequence of western colonisation which is used to explain the disproportionate occurrence of the practice in former colonies and underdeveloped countries.
The sea itself contributes to the prevalence of the problem. Through its geographically isolating nature, those engaging in human trafficking and labour crimes are able to risk these violations without much concern of interference by law enforcement. This coupled with corruptible diplomats and officials on land enables the practice to continue essentially uninterrupted.Dechery, C., & Ralston, L. (2015). Trafficking and fragility in West Africa.
Other crimes in regards to labour in the fishing industry include breach of labour regulations, document forgery, and sexual abuse.
According to a 2023 report by the Financial Transparency Coalition, vessels flagged to China are the top suspected labor abusers among national fishing fleets.
The extent to which forced labour scenarios are occurring worldwide is difficult to establish due to its evasive criminal nature, however, efforts have been made using satellite monitoring and machine learning to create an estimate of 57,000 to 100,000 individuals working on high-risk vessels.
Smuggling Fishing vessels are convenient vehicles for drug trafficking. In 2011 a UNDOC study found that fishing vessels are involved in drug trafficking in several ways: vessels can be used as base station from which smaller vessels transport drugs, as support ships that provide fuel and resources to vessels on drug trafficking routs, or to transport drugs between base ships in international waters and the coasts of destination states.
The smuggling of migrants on fishing vessels is also common. This is especially common in South America. Other products smuggled include arms but also fuel, and commodities like food, timber, and ivory which are smuggled to avoid customs and restrictions. Fishing vessels are also commonly involved in the smuggling of fuel.
Effects of fisheries crimes Fisheries crime is one of the main enablers of illegal fishing around the globe and is therefore facilitating the depletion of global fish stocks and threatens the sustainable use of the oceans. Depletion of fish stocks is also a risk for vulnerable coastal communities and causes monetary losses for states that rely on revenues from fishing.
Fisheries crime decreases the costs of fishing operations significantly, giving illegal operations an advantage over law abiding fishers, which created a difficult market environment for them.
Where organised criminal networks operate in the fishing sector, funds from one illegal activity will often enable other related crimes. For example, in West Africa drug traffickers commonly use trans-shipments between fishing vessels, meaning fishing vessels transporting their catch to a larger storage vessel, as a means to transport drugs.United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Focus Sheet on Fisheries, https://www.unodc.org/documents/about-unodc/Campaigns/Fisheries/focus_sheet_PRINT.pdf
International responses