Source: Oceana
Brest, France — As heads of state come together for the One Ocean Summit in France, NGOs from across the United States, European Union, and Japan, are calling on their nations – which combined account for more than 55% of all the seafood traded internationally – to prioritize policies to end illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
In the letter, the groups state that “IUU fishing constitutes one of the most serious threats to sustainable fishing and to ocean function and conservation. It directly contributes to overfishing, threatening the sustainability of marine ecosystems and fish populations; undermines coastal communities’ livelihoods and food security; destabilizes the security of maritime states; creates unfair competition for fishers operating legally; and can be associated with human, drugs, and weapons trafficking and labor rights abuses in the seafood sector.”