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Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing is a major threat to livelihoods, food security and ocean health globally.

As the world’s largest import market for fish products, the European Union plays a pivotal role in reforming the global trade in fisheries products. This analysis charts the progress of the EU’s efforts to shut out illegal catch and end IUU fishing.

The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), Oceana, The Pew Charitable Trusts and WWF are working together to secure the harmonised and effective implementation of the EU Regulation to end illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

Eight environmental organisations set out priorities for the Government which are essential for increasing pollinator numbers and restoring the ecosystem services they provide. These include how current policy should be improved to provide pollinators with abundant well-connected habitat, plentiful food and freedom from toxic chemicals and disease.

The report calls for overfishing, pirate fishing and modern-day slavery in the Thai fishing industry to be addressed as interconnected issues. It examines the complex and multi-faceted problems in Thailand’s fisheries sector and offers recommendations by which the Thai Government and producers, buyers, retailers and consumers of Thai seafood can tackle the root causes of the widespread environmental devastation and human rights abuses in the industry, and collectively secure truly sustainable, well-managed fisheries.

Effective fisheries management in Thailand could help combat pirate fishing, halt biodiversity loss, enable ecosystems and fish stocks to recover, and bring an end to human trafficking and devastating human rights abuses.

EJF’s review of the Thai Government’s actions in the last year concludes that the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking have not been met, and EJF strongly recommends that Thailand remains on Tier 3 in the 2015 TIP Report, as a clear signal to the Thai Government that a substantive programme of actions and series of reforms must be implemented.

It demonstrates how some of the most vulnerable people in the world are the first and worst affected by climate change, exposed to negative impacts which erode their human rights and place their homes, livelihoods and cultures at risk.

The report analyses how climate change exacerbates resource competition and water scarcity, generates widespread displacement and risks overwhelming some of the world’s fragile and post-conflict states. It calls for climate change to be recognised as a human rights issue as well as an environmental issue and highlights the need for urgent international action to respond to the human and national security challenges that climate change presents.

The report reveals new evidence of human trafficking and the use of violence in the Thai fishing industry and inaction on the part of the Government to identify and prosecute criminals, corrupt officials and unscrupulous business operators, or to enforce measures to regulate fishing fleets and recruitment practices.

The report and film detail testimonies of the 14 men rescued from a port in Kantang - first reported in Sold to the Sea - one year since their rescue. They also document the story of a 21 year old individual from Myanmar who was trafficked and forced to work on a Thai fishing boat in March 2013, before eventually escaping in December after 10 months of unpaid work aboard the boat.

Bringing fishing vessels out of the Shadows draws heavily on EJF’s work towards the eradication of Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) fishing in West Africa, which has revealed a compelling need for an international database of industrial fishing vessels containing their UVI and information on their ownership, flag, history, characteristics and fishing authorisations.

As explained by this briefing, EJF has documented vessels using multiple identities and changing their flags, names and radio call-signs to avoid detection and sanctions. A Global Record, alongside the obligatory use of a unique vessel identifier (UVI) in the form of an IMO number would drive transparency and traceability in global fisheries, thereby facilitating improved fisheries management and further action against IUU fishing.

EJF is calling on the EU to demonstrate strong political leadership to support the establishment of a Global record of fishing vessels, as part of its wider strategy to combat IUU fishing.

The report is based on the findings of an EJF field investigation in Bangladesh. It reveals the significant damage to vital infrastructure, widespread devastation to housing, reduced access to fresh water for drinking, sanitation and irrigation, and rising poverty and hunger caused by increasingly extreme weather events and the gradual but sustained deterioration in environmental security.

Transhipment at Sea: The Need for a Ban in West Africa draws heavily on the evidence EJF has gathered through its work towards the eradication of IUU, or ‘pirate’ fishing in West Africa. It explains how the international movement of fisheries products – both legal and illegal – often depends upon transhipments. The complexities involvement in fisheries regulations mean that transhipments can be problematic and are often linked to illegal fishing activities. EJF’s call on coastal and flag States to ban transhipments at sea in West Africa is part of the wider effort to combat IUU, or ‘pirate’, fishing.

This new briefing discusses the lack of control in authorised transhipments and the fact that illegal transhipment at sea is widely used by IUU fishing vessels to gain access to market. It makes the case for a ban on transhipments of fish at sea in West Africa as well as a ban on the entry of seafood from such transhipments into the European market.

This report by EJF exposes the continued role of the European Union and East Asian countries in facilitating a market for seafood illegally caught in West Africa. Following a two-year investigation by The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), “Pirate Fishing Exposed: The Fight Against Illegal Fishing in West Africa and the EU” highlights how local fishing communities are fighting back to combat this illegal trade.

During the two-year surveillance investigation, EJF documented rampant pirate fishing in Sierra Leone and laundering of the illegal catch into the European seafood market by vessels accredited to export fish to the EU.

Somebody Knows is a report that explains how retailers can investigate their supply chain, tracing the production of their goods from raw materials to finished products, enabling them to eliminate cotton from environmentally or socially unacceptable practices – such as cotton from Uzbekistan.

EJF's report White Gold: Uzbekistan, Slave Nation for Our Cotton? summarises information provided by independent journalists and human rights activists on the conditions under which the Uzbek cotton industry operates, and produces evidence of young children picking cotton at the behest of the authoritarian Uzbek government.

In collaboration with the Pesticide Action Network UK this report reveals the routine use of harmful chemicals, including nerve agents and neurotoxins, on cotton crops.

Vomiting, paralysis, incontinence, coma, seizures and death are some of the many side effects suffered by farmers and children in the developing world who are routinely exposed to pesticides, many of which are banned or restricted in use in the West. The report puts a case across for organic cotton alternatives.

The report reveals the widespread use of state-sponsored forced child labour in the cotton fields of the Central Asian Republic of Uzbekistan, the world’s 3rd largest cotton exporter and a major supplier to both European traders and ultimately, the EU marketplace.

Its release coincides with the tenth anniversary of the landmark International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour.

This report is one of a series documenting EJF’s international investigations into the social, economic and environmental impacts resulting from shrimp production and consumption.

Shrimp trawling is one of the most wasteful, destructive and inequitable ways to exploit the oceans. The report reveals how shrimp trawling is threatening ecological integrity and food security around the world. It presents the facts about shrimp trawling and highlights why immediate action is needed to protect marine ecosystems and the coastal populations whose lives are intimately connected to them.

Implementation of the EU Regulation to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate IUU Fishing.

EJF considers that the Commonwealth has a key role in addressing the unsustainable exploitation of global fisheries, both within the waters of Commonwealth countries and those of the international community. Global fisheries have effectively reached their maximum sustainable yield and if strong action by world leaders is not taken now, there will be severe economic, social and ecological consequences. Vulnerable coastal communities in developing countries are most at risk, as they often depend on fisheries for their livelihoods and food security.

EJF’s “Slave Nation” reveals how the Government of Uzbekistan continues to lie to the international community while routinely compelling hundreds of thousands of children as labourers in the country’s annual cotton harvest.

With evidence that little has changed despite the promises of the Uzbek Government and with the spring planting season just around the corner, EJF asks whether it will be children forced to pick the crop again when the harvest comes around later this year.

Every year, pesticides are estimated to cause tens of millions of cases of accidental poisoning. Many of these poisoning cases are in the developing world where awareness of the dangers is lacking. Symptoms of pesticide poisoning can range from short-term headaches and nausea to convulsions, unconsciousness or death. Longer-term effects include damage to nervous systems, respiratory and skin diseases, cancers and birth defects.

What's Your Poison? highlights the shocking evidence between pesticides and damage to human health in developing countries.

In 2001, the UN FAO and World Health Organisation estimated that developing countries spend US$3 billion annually on pesticides. However, one-third of these pesticides did not meet internationally accepted quality standards. Developing countries are used as a dumping ground for hazardous chemicals, many of which are banned throughout much of the rest of the world because of the serious threats they pose to human health and the natural environment. Cambodia is one such country.

This report outlines EJF’s program to combat the misuse of pesticides in Cambodia and limit the effects on people, wildlife and the natural environment.

EJF is working with our partners to secure a legally-binding, international protocol that can fill the existing gaps in legislation and ensure that the refugee support system evolves within the context of our changing world. This new legal instrument would recognize people displaced by deteriorating environmental conditions associated with climate change as a vulnerable social group, and confer them equivalent but legally distinct protection to that conferred to refugees fleeing persecution under the 1951 Geneva Convention. This briefing outlines specific recommendations for the EU, including the need to systemically link aid and development, environment and migration policies and decision-making.

This report is one of a series documenting EJF’s international investigations into the social, economic and environmental impacts resulting from shrimp production and consumption.

Mangroves represent far more than just a ‘bio-shield’. Despite being regarded for many years as ‘wastelands’, ripe for development, it is now known that mangroves provide coastal communities with many services and utilizable products, and perform vital ecosystem functions.

This report concludes that the conversion of mangrove habitat into shrimp farms, tourist resorts, agricultural and urban land over the past decades, as well as destruction of coral reefs, contributed significantly to the catastrophic loss of human lives and settlements during the 2004 tsunami. Conserving and restoring coastal mangrove areas is essential if coastal communities are to recover and be protected from future similar events.

A known killer and toxic to the environment, the pesticide endosulfan remains a serious health and environmental hazard.

Despite being banned in 62 countries, its continued production and use continues to poison and people and environments as a number of countries, led by India, stand in the way of a global ban.

This report by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) details the environmental and human impacts of one of the world's most dangerous and pervasive pesticides, highlighting why it should be banned globally.

http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/index_en.htm

This report sets out the historic and existing governance arrangements for artisanal fishing in the Sherbro River Estuary, where fishing is vital to the livelihoods and food security of local communities.

This report report from 2007 documents the link between IUU fishing and the EU through tracking illegally-caught fish from West Africa into the European market.

Briefing researched, written and published by the Indonesian organisation JALA (in cooperation with EJF) - the Advocacy Network for North Sumatra Fisherfolk, documenting the social and environmental impacts of illegal trawling in North Sumatra.

'Illegal Driftnetting in the Mediterranean' documents how driftnets, although banned by both the EU and the ICCAT since 2002 and 2003, continue to be used illegally across the region to catch valuable large species, mainly swordfish and tuna. There are estimated to be up to 600 illegal driftnet vessels operating in the Mediterranean, including many EU-flagged vessels. EJF is calling on the European Union, and all States involved, to meet their legal responsibilities with firm and decisive action.