IUU Fishing

Illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing covers vessels that fish without authorization, that misreport or hide their catch, or that operate in areas with no applicable conservation measures. The FAO estimates IUU catch at up to 26 million tonnes a year, undercutting stock assessments and quota systems. The binding tools against it are the FAO Port State Measures Agreement, catch documentation schemes, vessel monitoring systems, and AIS-based transparency platforms like Global Fishing Watch.