Anguilla 
Antigua and Barbuda 
Grenada 
Bahamas 
Barbados 
Belize 
Dominica 
Guyana 
Haiti 
Jamaica 
Montserrat 
St. Kitts and Nevis 
St. Lucia 
St. Vincent and the Grenadines 
Suriname 
Trinidad and Tobago 
Turks and Caicos 
The Need for Rigor in the Fisheries Space - Why the Term “IUU Fishing” is a Hindrance
Dr. Ian Ralby
President, Auxilium Worldwide,
+14109351745; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
ABSTRACT
The term “IUU Fishing” has become colloquially synonymous with bad action in the fisheries space. To confront both the sustainability and the security implications of IUU Fishing, however, there is a critical need for greater rigour in defining and dissecting the problem sets so that meaningful solutions can be pursued. Illegal fishing, unreported fishing and unregulated fishing are each distinct issues. At the operational level, the actors who can address illegal fishing are usually maritime law enforcement agencies. But the same navies, coast guards and marine police forces that address illegal fishing have little ability to do anything about unregulated fishing. That is the purview of legislatures and regulatory agencies. So even as a bucket of three seemingly related matters, “IUU Fishing” is a problematic term that combines issues that must be addressed by different actors. Yet beyond illegal, unreported, or unregulated fishing, there are also other fisheries issues that are being mislabeled as “IUU Fishing,” making it difficult to recognize their true nature, and thus find effective measures to tackle them. Drug trafficking on a fishing vessel, money laundering through the fishing sector, or using a fishing vessel to collect intelligence on a state’s maritime agencies are all outside of the ambit of “IUU Fishing,” but are certainly undesirable. In the Caribbean for example, criminal cartels are exploiting gaps between the actors and agencies focused on sustainability and those that are focused on security. As a result, fisheries crimes – both on the water and in the financial record books – undermine the credibility and the integrity of the fishing sector despite not having a direct impact on fish stocks. That degradation of the region’s fisheries space has also opened the door to state actors who are looking for inroads to gain strategic presence in the region. As a result, the Caribbean must become more rigorous in recognizing the spectrum of undesirable fishing-related activities throughout the maritime domain, and working within and between governments to combat them.
HOW TO CITE: Ralby, I. 2026. The Need for Rigor in the Fisheries Space - Why the Term “IUU Fishing” is a Hindrance. Contribution 2.7, p83-89 IN CRFM, 2026. Volume I: Technical Papers. Presented at the CRFM 20th Anniversary Scientific Conference, 28-31 August 2023. CRFM Special Publication No. 37, CRFM Secretariat https://www.crfm.int/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=905
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