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In this letter to Emma Reynolds MP (Secretary of State at the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) and Dame Angela Eagle MP (Minister for Fisheries), over 40 parliamentarians express their alarm at the ongoing failure to adequately scrutinise the UK’s seafood imports and the risk this poses to consumers, fishers and the marine environment. They urge the environment and fisheries ministers to take action to strengthen the UK’s import control system, to prevent the country from becoming a dumping ground for illegal and slave-caught seafood.

Populations of small pelagic fish traditionally harvested by artisanal fishers in Ghanaian waters are severely overfished and in a state of collapse. The alarming state of Ghana’s small pelagic fisheries results in part from persistent illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing by the largely foreign-owned industrial trawl fleet. The use of illegal fishing gear by trawlers results in large volumes of bycatch, known locally as logo fish - juvenile and undersized fish which are either discarded or sold to coastal communities for profit.

Urgent action is needed to break this vicious circle and ensure a more sustainable and equitable future for Ghana’s fisheries.

Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) and unsustainable fishing places immense pressure on the world’s oceans. These destructive practices go hand in hand with human rights violations and labour abuses. A major challenge in effectively tackling these issues is that much of this harmful activity occurs in the middle of the ocean, where it is easier to avoid detection.

The findings of this report show that the adoption of fleet-wide CCTV, as a key tool within broader monitoring, control and surveillance systems, has massive potential to enhance transparency, tackle IUU fishing, and address human rights abuses at sea.

Illegal fishing and overfishing risk the collapse of Ghana’s fish populations, directly undermining the most basic human rights of coastal communities, and costing the country millions of dollars every year. Greater transparency is needed to achieve sustainable, legal, and ethical fisheries.

This analysis aims to inform and guide this action, and to assist Ghana in moving from commitment to the Global Charter to full implementation, ensuring that the benefits of transparency are secured for the many Ghanaians who depend on fisheries resources for their livelihoods.

본 보고서는 남서대서양 아르헨티나 오징어 어업에 대한 EJF 조사 결과를 제시한다. 세계 최대 규모의 오징어 어장 중 하나인 남서대서양 공해 지역은 관리 감독이 없는 비규제 해역이다. 매년 수백 척의 원양 어선들이 몰려들어, 오징어가 먹이를 좇기 위해 또는 산란지로 가기 위해 아르헨티나 해역에서 벗어나자마자 포획한다. 위성 사진에서도 관측될 정도로 거대한 규모의 이 어선들은 지난 10년간 급증했다. 이는 오징어에 대한 수요 증가와 더불어 어선들이 기존에 잡던 어종을 더 이상 양껏 조업하지 못하게 되면서 오징어로 목표 어종을 전환했기 때문이다. 조사 기간 동안 해당 지역에서 중국 오징어 어선의 조업 시간은 거의 두 배로 증가한 반면, 어획량은 감소하는 우려스러운 징후를 보인다. 즉, 자원량이 위기에 처했음을 시사한다

This briefing details EJF’s ongoing observations and analysis of the Government of Indonesia's (GOI) monitoring, control, and surveillance (MCS) mechanisms, aimed at detecting, investigating, and prosecuting incidences of IUU fishing, as well as associated human rights abuses, forced labour, and human trafficking. It provides comprehensive recommendations for GOI agencies to address identified gaps within these mechanisms, focusing on issues arising during both at-sea patrols and port-side vessel inspections. Additional fisheries regulatory analysis highlights gaps in implementation and law enforcement.

The EU may have the world’s most comprehensive import control scheme on paper, but this briefing demonstrates that weak and uneven implementation of import controls by Member States is leaving room for products of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing to enter the EU market.