Across the globe, IUU fishing depletes marine resources, destroys habitats and is explicitly linked to forced labor and human rights abuses.

New Global Fisheries Transparency Coalition Releases Charter for Public Comment

The Global Fisheries Transparency Coalition, a new global community of ocean advocates campaigning for increased transparency at sea, released its draft Global Charter for public comment. The ten principles, which address the lack of transparency in vessel information, fishing activity, and fisheries governance and management, pinpoint the most essential transparency priorities needed to increase equity in fisheries and combat illegal fishing and human rights abuses at sea.

Leading the Coalition is a steering committee of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), including Oceana, the Environmental Justice Foundation, Citizens Institute of Environmental Studies (Korea), Global Fishing Watch, the Regional Partnership for Coastal and Marine Conservation (West Africa), Seafood Legacy (Japan), and the WWF Network. The Coalition serves as an international platform and voice for civil society to improve transparency and accountability in marine governance by developing joint strategies and harmonizing efforts in key countries and global regions.

IUU fishing can include fishing without authorization, ignoring catch limits, operating in closed areas, targeting protected wildlife, and fishing with prohibited gear.

The Global Charter for Transparency underpins the work of the Coalition with a unifying set of principles and a clear call to governments. Broad input from diverse voices on the Charter is essential to producing principles that are both effective and equitable for all involved in fisheries governance. Comments are sought from all relevant stakeholders – not only civil society groups but also governments, industry, academics, and other informed observers of trends in global fisheries governance. The Coalition welcomes comments until October 31, 2022 and will thoughtfully review all submissions. The public consultation form to input comments can be found below in multiple languages.

These iillicit activities can destroy essential habitats, severely deplete fish populations, and threaten global food security. These actions not only contribute to overfishing, but also give bad actors an unfair advantage over honest fishermen that play by the rules.

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The work of the Global Fisheries Transparency Coalition is made possible thanks to the generous support of Bloomberg Philanthropies, Oceans 5, and Oceankind.

Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing is one of the greatest challenges facing our ocean today. IUU fishing depletes fish populations, destroys marine habitats, and threatens the livelihoods of an estimated 260 million people and many global fisheries; the best weapon we have to fight the cycle is transparency. Without transparency, there is no accountability.

About Oceana

Oceana is the largest international advocacy organization dedicated solely to ocean conservation. Oceana is rebuilding abundant and biodiverse oceans by winning science-based policies in countries that control one-third of the world’s wild fish catch. With more than 225 victories that stop overfishing, habitat destruction, pollution, and the killing of threatened species like turtles and sharks, Oceana’s campaigns are delivering results. A restored ocean means that 1 billion people can enjoy a healthy seafood meal, every day, forever. 

Source: Oceana

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