The southwest Indian Ocean is missing out on much as US$142.8 million in income due to the illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing of shrimp and tuna, according to a new WWF report.
Examining the economic losses to Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, South Africa and Tanzania, the report: “The missing millions from shrimp and tuna fisheries in the South West Indian Ocean” determines that between 2016 and 2021, around 36% of all fishing effort was potentially IUU fishing.
WWF’s Indian Ocean Tuna Manager Umair Shahid said the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) meeting, taking place 8-12 May 2023, should see all nations that are accountable for fishing activities in the region must to “scrub the deck clean” of illicit fishing that puts regional food security and livelihoods at risk, and which “tarnishes the reputations” of those who have made international commitments to sustainable fisheries and seafood under the UN Sustainable Development Goals, UN high seas treaty and more.
“There can be no further objections to measures for sustainable fisheries management. All nations must come together to put an end to IUU fishing and ensure transparency and traceability across the seafood supply chains entering European markets,” Shahid said.
WWF highlighted the Indian Ocean is the world’s second largest tuna production area behind the Western Pacific, while globally, shrimp made up 16.4% of total seafood exports in 2020, followed by tuna, with the majority of these products entering high-income markets in North America, Europe and Japan.
While most of the demand for shrimp is met by farmed products, wild-capture shrimp, such as those in the southwest Indian Ocean, can come at a premium, it said.
WWF’s report shows that EU member states are responsible for some of the highest levels of fishing effort in these waters and represent some of the region’s primary trade partners for tuna and shrimp products.
It is looking to the EU delegation to take a strong stand at the IOTC meeting to ensure robust, adequate and binding measures are adopted to see that fishing activities by both local and foreign fleets are sustainable in the long-term.
WWF described the Indian Ocean’s overfishing of tuna “a persistent problem”, with 37% of yellowfin catches being juveniles and 53.7% being below the optimum length between 2015 and 2019.
Two types of fleets principally operate in this ocean: industrial distant water fishing nations (DWFNs) that fish outside of their own territories and coastal small-scale fleets. WWF said ineffective fisheries monitoring leaves DWFNs open to engaging in IUU fishing on scales that wipe out local resources and add pressure on already overfished stocks, in turn creating a level of demand that is filled to some extent by IUU fishing.
It has calculated that 48.7% of all tuna fishing effort in the region between 2015 and 2021 was potentially illegal or unregulated activity, and that on average, the potential economic losses to the region from IUU tuna fishing amounted to roughly $95.8 million each year.
During the same period, DWFNs were responsible for roughly 78% of all tuna catches, with Spain having the fifth-highest amount of fishing effort in the exclusive economic zones of the southwest Indian Ocean nations. France, Portugal and Spain were three of the five primary trade partners for the region.
The EU therefore plays a crucial role to influence and uphold best practices in sustainable fisheries, seafood traceability and accurate trade reporting to combat IUU fishing, WWF said.
Meanwhile, semi-industrial and industrial shrimp and prawn fisheries represent some of the main sources of foreign income tied to natural resources for Mozambique, Madagascar, Tanzania and Kenya, but potential economic losses stemming from IUU fishing for these species amounted to roughly $47 million each year between 2015 and 2021.
Some 26.4% of all shrimp fishing activities were potentially illegal and unregulated, WWF said.
It advised that again, EU member states had a strong presence in the region over the same period and that Greece and Portugal were two of the main DWFNs present in the exclusive economic zones of the focal countries (accounting for roughly 8% of total apparent shrimp fishing effort), while France, Portugal and Spain were in the group of primary shrimp trade partners for the region.
As shrimp are an essential species for local nutrition and play a crucial role in the wider food web upon which other commercial fisheries depend, including tuna, EU fishing and trade activities must not be complicit in fueling the decline of these species, WWF insisted.
“EU nations are some of the key market states for seafood products exported from this region, meaning the EU has a duty of care to ensure that what it imports is not linked with illegal fishing. This is especially true for shrimp, where traceability regulations are almost nonexistent, as well as for the practices of the EU’s own tuna fleets, which must be effectively monitored to uphold the sustainable fisheries values they preach at home,” WWF Europe’s Head of Ocean Policy Antonia Leroy said.
“Illicit fishing activities cannot continue to deprive the region of economic opportunities and jeopardise thousands of livelihoods.”
WWF has called on the IOTC meeting to adopt three resolutions to address IUU fishing and secure sustainable fisheries and seafood trade flows:
- A long-debated resolution for a new compliance mechanism must be adopted to increase fisheries’ accountability and support
- Adopt the resolution on boarding and inspection schemes on the high seas to improve the timeliness and technical capabilities of inspecting vessels engaged in suspicious activity
- Adopt a regional electronic monitoring programme (eg. onboard cameras and sensors) in the IOTC area of competence to improve vessel observer coverage and data collection for what is caught
