Source & Author: Stimson
In advance of the United Nations Oceans Conference in New York next week, the Stimson Center’s Environmental Security team is pleased to officially release our new illegal fishing database.
The database highlights the pervasiveness of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing around the world — from Southeast Asia to the Caribbean. It identifies over 200 incidents of illegal fishing in 2016 that converge with a U.S. national and/or regional security dimension, such as arms and drugs smuggling, corruption, and transnational organized crime. Findings include:
- 130 incidents that converge with regional and national security interests
- 48 incidents that converge with transnational organized crime
- 16 incidents of illegal fishing that converge with drug smuggling
- 10 incidents that converge with human security issues, like slavery
Most interestingly, however, are the gaps in coverage on this map: in areas of the world where there are few incidents, analysts and policymakers should take note, for this likely reveals a gap in capacity to monitor, enforce, and prosecute perpetrators of IUU fishing.
Please visit www.naturalsecurityforum.org to engage with the interactive map and explore each incident.