The ocean, an engine for food, economic and environmental security is under assault from overuse—collapsing fish stocks, pollution, and the devastating effects of climate change. At the same time, fishing is big business, with over 56 million people working on vessels to support it worldwide. Despite this, the seafood supply chain is opaque, impeding effective fisheries management and risking the livelihoods and food security of millions.
Illegal, unregulated, and unreported (IUU), an illicit business which generates estimated annual profits of $36.billion, poses unique challenges to states and communities, undermining their ability to manage fish stocks while also being associated with transnational organized crime, labor concerns and trafficking. These issues pose a direct threat to U.S. national and global security. This project provides decision makers with resources and information needed to quantify and understand the convergence of these critical issues and its links to other security threats.
Our work seeks to combat IUU fishing by operationalizing civil-military response to IUU fishing, supporting diplomacy between governments, and increasing cooperation between the security and conservation communities, with the goal of protecting valuable marine resources.
Through engagement with stakeholders around the globe, Stimson also serves as an advisor to the annual Our Ocean Conference, a global conference that focuses on commitments and actions to protect the ocean, while ensuring the ocean remains a foreign policy imperative entering the ocean decade.
As more countries around the globe move to ban Russian seafood and implement seafood traceability systems, they are looking to the US as a global leader
February 22, 2024
Examining the existing U.S. programming that supports seafood trade monitoring and offering recommendations to improve combatting illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing
December 15, 2023
November 16, 2023
Identifying trends and actors involved in IUU fishing, exploring political and socioeconomic factors, and offering recommendations to government
November 6, 2023
Program Director Sally Yozell called to testify before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China
October 30, 2023
This report offers the governments of West African states and the People’s Republic of China clear, concise, and actionable recommendations to foster sustainable fisheries management and counter IUU fishing in the Gulf of Guinea and beyond
September 14, 2023
September 7, 2023
Copyright The Henry L. Stimson Center