Maritime Security in the Indian Ocean: the practice of Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing

  Focus - Allegati
  10 February 2022
  17 minutes, 15 seconds

Abstract

At present times, the Indian Ocean region struggles with several maritime security threats, including piracy, drug and arms smuggling, human trafficking, and modern slavery. Another serious issue that the region is facing is the practice of Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing, which refers to all fishing activities that violate national, regional and international regulations. IUU fishing has multiple serious impacts as it not only represents a threat to the environmental, food and economic security of hundreds of millions of people in the Indian Ocean region, but it also came to be associated with the activities of other transnational organized crimes. Due to the gravity of its impacts, IUU fishing should be addressed as an emergency, resorting to prompt and effective measures.

This paper aims to describe the practice of IUU fishing as a maritime security threat for the Indian Ocean region, by investigating its impacts and the measures that have been adopted against it, with the final aim of highlighting how regional cooperation and information sharing could represent a remarkable improvement in the effort to eradicate it.

Author: Margherita Camurri - Junior Researcher, Mondo Internazionale G.E.O. - Politics

Introduction

When one thinks about maritime security in the Indian Ocean region, the first thought is likely to go to the transnational organized crimes of piracy, human trafficking and drugs and arms smuggling. Although these illicit activities undoubtedly represent a major threat to the security of the Indian Ocean, this paper is focused on the practice of Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing because of its wide-ranging consequences; in fact, illegal fishing has greater impacts on the wellbeing of the population that one may realise, affecting both the region’s economic, food, environmental and national security.

The starting point of this paper was an interesting survey that was conducted in 2019 by Secure Fisheries in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime for a project called “Caught Red-Handed”, which aimed at exploring solutions to combat illegal fishing. The survey investigated the perspectives of more than 100 representatives of maritime agencies from 10 countries of the Indian Ocean region regarding its maritime security. The key finding was that almost 80% of the respondents agreed that illegal fishing is the most significant maritime security threat of the Indian Ocean (UNODC, 2019).

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) defines Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing as a broad term that captures all “fishing and related activities that operate outside the law and undermine sustainable fisheries” (FAO, 2021). More precisely, “Illegal fishing” refers to the practice of catching marine life in waters that fall under the jurisdiction of a coastal state, without permission or violating the applicable law, while “Unreported fishing” identifies all the catches that are not reported or misreported to the relevant authorities. Finally, “Unregulated fishing” refers to all fishing activities conducted in areas falling under the jurisdiction of regional fishery organizations by vessels without nationality or coming from a State not party to that organization (FAO, 2021). Examples of IUU fishing activities include making false reports about catches, fishing without the relevant license or quota, and conducting unauthorized transhipment to cargo vessels (NOAA Fisheries, 2021).

IUU fishing has several impacts that should be urgently addressed; first of all, the practice is an environmental threat as it puts the sustainability of fish stocks and the wellbeing of marine ecosystems in danger. Second of all, IUU fishing is an economic threat as it creates unfair competition to the workers that operate under the law, thus raising unemployment levels and obstructing economic growth. Furthermore, being a driver of overfishing, this practice puts food security at risk. In fact, IUU fishing threatens the food supply of more than 2.5 billion people, who depend on fish as a crucial part of their diet. Finally, IUU fishing is often associated with other forms of transnational organized crimes, such as human trafficking, drug and arms smuggling, human exploitation and sea piracy (Poling and Cronin, 2017).

Given the seriousness of IUU fishing impacts, efforts to end the practice were encompassed in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In particular, SDG 14 (Life below water) requires member states to “end overfishing, illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing” and to eliminate subsidies that contribute to these practices (DESA, 2021). SDG 14 was set to be achieved by 2020, but the international community is still far from eradicating this activity. Indeed, the practice of IUU fishing escalated rapidly in the past twenty years, and nowadays it is considered to be one of the greatest global threats to maritime security and marine ecosystems. Given the clandestine and highly concealed nature of the practice, it is hard to have a precise estimate of its impact. Nevertheless, in its 2016 report, FAO calculated that every year, across the world’s oceans, approximately 11-26 million tonnes of fish are subject to IUU fishing, for a value of $10-23 billion (FAO, 2016). More recently, FAO also estimated that IUU fishing accounts for 1 in 5 of the world’s catch.

The impacts of IUU fishing in the Indian Ocean

At present times, the Indian Ocean must deal with several maritime security threats, including piracy, human and drug smuggling, armed robbery and different environmental issues. Yet, another serious, although lesser-known, emergency that the region is facing is precisely the practice of IUU fishing. In this regard, as previously stated, a survey conducted in 2019 by Secure Fisheries in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime showed that almost 80% of the respondents agreed that illegal fishing is the most significant maritime security threat of the Indian Ocean (UNODC, 2019). Indeed, also the rankings of the IUU Fishing Index confirm the gravity of the threat, reporting that the East and the West Indian Oceans are the world’s second-most vulnerable areas after the Western Pacific region (IUU Fishing Index, 2019). For this reason, the impacts of this practice in the Indian Ocean region should not be underestimated, and they should be investigated properly.

  • Economic and Food Security Impacts

The main reason why IUU fishing is considered to be such a serious threat is that the fishing industry is a key economic sector for the region. Indeed, the majority of Indian Ocean’s coastal states are developing countries which highly rely on fisheries to guarantee the well-being of their populations. In particular, the fishing sector is important as it generates income, alleviates poverty, and creates jobs. In Indonesia, for instance, almost 6 million people are employed in fisheries. Moreover, FAO calculated that for each person directly employed in this sector, another three or four have jobs in related activities, such as boat construction and fish processing (FAO, 2016).

IUU fishing, being an activity that occurs outside governments’ reach, affects the economies of the Indian Ocean’s coastal states, making them lose potential revenues. This in turn undermines the governments’ ability to provide services to the populations, which may result in social discontent. Furthermore, the practice contributes to the decline of fish stocks, thus driving up prices and jeopardizing the jobs of all those workers that operate under the law and fuelling unemployment, which is another source of social discontent (Poling and Cronin, 2017). Therefore, it is reasonable to affirm that IUU fishing, impacting national economies and the labour market, may also become a threat to government accountability and trust. Another problem with unemployment is that it often drives people to seek a source of income from illegal and underground markets.

As far as food security is concerned, the fishing sector provides food to hundreds of millions of people of the Indian Ocean region and it is their most important source of animal protein. In particular, for several small islands and for Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, fish represents more than 50% of total animal protein intake per person. Moreover, in the past years, the demand for fish has increased rapidly. For instance, in Southeast Asia, from 1961 to 2013, fish consumption has increased at an average annual rate of 4.6%, more than double the rate of population growth (World Fish, 2017). By diminishing heavily the amount of available fish in the market, IUU fishing jeopardizes the health of hundreds of millions of people of the region, and more generally increases the poverty rate.

  • National Security Impacts: piracy and other transnational organized crimes

It is by now widely acknowledged that IUU fishing is associated to several forms of transnational organized crimes, including human trafficking, drug and arms smuggling, human exploitation and sea piracy. Indeed, IUU fishing vessels are often used as means of transport for the illegal traffic of drugs, arms, wildlife and people. As far as labour exploitation and abuse is concerned, several studies have revealed that these practices are common aboard IUU fishing vessels and they are often referred to as “modern slavery” (Shaver and Yozell, 2018). Victims are often trapped at high sea for long periods of time and they are forced to work in inhuman conditions; they are frequently subjected to threats, psychological and physical abuse, unsanitary working environments and exhausting working hours.

In the Indian Ocean region, residents of fragile areas are often subject to the recruitment by terrorist groups or criminal organizations, such as sea pirates. In particular, the phenomenon of piracy in the region has ancient roots and nowadays is putting the fishing market under pressure (Belhabib, Le Billon, 2020). In fact, as previously stated, the practice of IUU fishing, by raising the unemployment and poverty rates, often leads many people, who desperately need a source of income, to become involved in several illicit activities, including sea piracy. Indeed, piracy is usually highly lucrative and thus able to attract unemployed workers coming from the fishing sector. The problem with the practice of fish piracy is twofold; on one hand, it disrupts the fishing market by decreasing the available products because often the illegal catches are transported to other countries. On the other hand, the recruitment of skilled labourers by pirates ensure the pirates a higher productivity and in turn a higher profit, thus empowering and enriching a sea terrorist organization.

  • Environmental Security Impacts

IUU fishing activities exacerbate the negative impacts of climate change, threatening marine biodiversity and the resilience of the marine ecosystem. As a matter of fact, by operating outside the law, fishing vessels turn down their Automatic Identification System (AIS) and intentionally look for marine reserves and protected areas, where fish are more abundant. This contributes to serious damage to marine habitats and to the depletion of fish population. Moreover, these kinds of practices most of the time result in incidental captures of protected endangered species such as dolphins, turtles, and sharks (Withrow, 2021).

Illegal vessels are also more likely to abandon or lose fishing gear, in a practice known as “ghost gear”, which today represents the main cause of sea water pollution. Even if this practice is common also within legal vessels, IUU fishing vessels tend to be more subjected to the loss or the abandonment of their fishing gear. Indeed, by fishing under difficult conditions, such as at night, they are more exposed to the risk of losing their equipment. Moreover, illegal vessels may be willing to intentionally abandon their gear to evade capture by authorities and destroy evidence (Global Ghost Gear Initiative, 2017). Lastly, it is important to consider that such illegal fishing activities undermine any effort in favor of a more sustainable fishing sector, such as the imposition of catch limits and the creation of marine reserves.

Initiatives adopted to combat IUU Fishing

Over the years, several measures have been enforced either at the international, the regional or at the national level in order to eradicate the practice of IUU Fishing. However, most of the measures do not have an enforcement mechanism. For the purposes of this paper, only a selection of the most effective international and regional initiatives will be discussed.

At the international level, the most ambitious and potentially impactful initiative adopted so far is the FAO’s Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (PSMA). The importance of the PSMA, which entered into force in 2016, derives from the fact that it is the first legally binding international agreement to specifically target IUU Fishing. Currently, the agreement counts for 69 members, including several coastal states of the Indian Ocean’s region, such as Indonesia, Madagascar, Myanmar, Oman, Seychelles, Somalia, and Thailand. In particular, the aim of the PSMA is to eradicate IUU fishing by preventing vessels engaged in this practice from landing in ports in order to offload and sell their catches, refuel, and resupply. In light of this objective, the PSMA grants its member states the power to force fishing vessels to request permission before entering port and provide information regarding their catches and identities, and to deny entry to the suspected illegal ships (FAO, 2009).

At the regional level, the most important players in charge of regulating fishing activities in the high seas are the Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs). Made up of countries with fishing interests in a given geographical region, RFMOs have a key role in the fight against IUU fishing as they generally hold registers of IUU fishing vessels and they are allowed to take measures against them when necessary. In the Indian Ocean region, one of the most effective RFMOs for the control of IUU fishing is the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC). Indeed, the IOTC not only keeps an updated Record of Currently Authorized Vessels in the region, but it also collects information regarding the activities of illegal fishing vessels, creating the so-called “List of IUU Vessels” (IOTC, 2021). The IOTC then gathers all the necessary information regarding the illegal vessels and it makes sure that they are reported to all relevant authorities and organizations in charge of combating the practice, including the FAO. Another relevant RFMs of the Indian Ocean is the Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement (SIOFA) which, in June 2018 adopted a binding resolution called Conversation and Management Measure on the Listing of IUU Vessels, requiring all its contracting parties to participate in the creation of an updated record illegal fishing vessels (SIOFA, 2018). Finally, more recently, a new regional partnership called “Fish-i-Africa” has been established precisely to improve the level of cooperation and data-sharing in the fight against illegal fishing. Nowadays, the organization comprises the African coastal states of Comoros, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Somalia and the United Republic of Tanzania. By accepting to be part of this initiative, the partner countries have agreed to create a platform for real-time data sharing regarding sensitive information of vessels, such as their owners, their catches and their movements, with the aim of taking prompt actions against the suspected illegal ships.

Conclusion: the way ahead

This paper has provided a thorough description of the practice of IUU fishing in the Indian Ocean region, showing that this illegal activity not only continues to be a threat to the environmental, food and economic security of hundreds of millions of people, but it is also associated with the transnational organized crimes of piracy, drug and arm smuggling, human trafficking and modern slavery. For all these reasons, IUU fishing must be considered an emergency to be addressed with urgent and effective measures. However, although most of the countries in the Indian Ocean region are parties to international and regional organizations that aim at fighting illegal fishing, most of them still fail to adopt concrete initiatives against it.

In general, seeing as IUU is not only a regional but a global issue, a high level of cooperation and coordination within the international community should represent the fundamental basis of any effective approach to eradicate IUU fishing. In particular, cooperation among states should aim to create a good system of real-time information sharing (at least at the regional level), which would allow the international community to track down more easily suspected illegal vessels and to take actions when necessary. In this regard, the initiatives launched by the Indian Ocean’s RFMOs and by the “Fish-i-Africa” that the paper has previously illustrated, are certainly a good start, but should be extended to all the countries in the regions. Indeed, if only controlled at the national level, IUU vessels could easily exit domestic waters and seek refuge in other ports and seas, or in which they cannot be localized.

On the contrary, with a good system of information sharing, it would be harder for illegal ships to operate unnoticed and to move to distant ports without being caught. An efficient system of information sharing must be easily accessible, and it must include not only an updated record of all legal fishing activities, but also a list of illegal vessels, with details about their catches, their owners and, possibly, their movements. Collecting all this sensitive information about IUU vessels is essential in order to fully understand this practice and to try to eradicate it at its roots, instead of merely arresting the lawbreakers once they arrive at the ports with their catches. Furthermore, another tool that could be used in order to locate illegal vessels and to study their movements are technologies such as the vessel monitoring system (VMS) and satellite imagery. However, many developing states lack appropriate access to these kinds of technologies. Therefore, it is necessary to look for new public or private partnerships that would enable these countries to use these kinds of instruments, or at least provide them with the collected information and data. Finally, in order to strengthen the level of regional cooperation it would be useful to periodically organize workshops, forums and meetings, where the relevant experts would be encouraged to share and present their ideas and proposals in order to develop new collective solutions to fight against IUU fishing.

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