Experts at a panel discussion hosted by InSight Crime and the Center for Latin American & Latino Studies (CLALS) at American University made clear that the consequences of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing are immediate and enormous across the region. IUU fishing damages livelihoods and marine ecosystems while facilitating other crimes, such as labor abuse and drug trafficking.

 

But all is not lost, said the experts, who presented ways to go after the perpetrators, increase enforcement capacity, and rein in bad actors. Initiatives for fishers who can no longer make a living at sea are also needed.

"The impact goes beyond the fishing industry," said Matthew Taylor, a professor of international studies at American University who collaborated with InSight Crime on a recently published working paper on IUU fishing in Latin America and the Caribbean.

 

Philippe Le Billon, a professor at the University of British Columbia, began the conference by highlighting a study he conducted on the connections between drug smuggling and fishing.  

 

While acknowledging that data were limited, Le Billon explained that his study analyzed 292 known cases of vessels engaged in drug trafficking between 2010 and 2017. The findings, he said, show that “more and more small-scale fishermen are getting forced into” drug smuggling.

 

Paradoxically, small-scale fishers are susceptible to exploitation by drug traffickers because of the effects of IUU fishing practices, such as declining fish stocks and access to fishing grounds. The flow of drug money into local fisheries also can lead to "fishing overcapacity," Le Billon said.  

 

Peter A. Murray, an advisor at the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) Secretariat, a 17-nation organization that facilitates sustainable fishing in the region’s waters, agreed that fishing has increasingly become a vehicle for drug-related money laundering. One of the problems, Murray said, is that IUU fishing is often “treated as a regulatory issue and not as transnational organized crime.”

 

Three countries that are part of CRFM were featured in a recent investigation by InSight Crime and CLALS titled “Plundered Oceans: IUU Fishing in Central American and Caribbean Waters.” Reports in that investigation showed how Jamaica’s waters are being poached of lucrative marine life; how Guyana’s law enforcement capabilities extend to just a fraction of its waters; and how Suriname’s black trade in fishing licenses has created a raft of duplicate boats.

 

 

Murray acknowledged that the countries in the CRFM are in desperate need of financial assistance and capacity development to combat IUU fishing. But he pointed out that their efforts often go unnoticed. Despite limitations, he said, “our [member] states are working toward a range of remedies.”

 

Jorge Arturo Jiménez, the general director of the MarViva Foundation, an oceans conservation organization based in Costa Rica, highlighted the devastation wrought by illegal fishing gear, such as purse seine nets that produce massive bycatch, and illegal fishing practices, such as the use of explosives. Closed seasons are not respected, while overfishing creates a downward spiral that leads not only to depleted stocks but also to fishers struggling to earn a living, he said.

 

Making matters more difficult, he said, is the sheer lack of data.

"You don’t know how many people are fishing," Jiménez said, "and you don’t know what is being fished."

 

Concerns about shark-fin exports emerged in discussions about Costa Rica and Ecuador. Over the past five years, Costa Rica exported 455 metric tons of shark fins worth $25 million to Hong Kong, Jiménez told the conference.

 

Christina Cely, an environmental activist in Ecuador, said Ecuadorean vessels continue to land massive amounts of shark as bycatch, another focus of the "Plundered Oceans" investigation. Fishing for sharks is illegal in Ecuador, but fishermen may possess and sell sharks they catch incidentally. The legal loophole has turned the nation into one of the world's largest exporters of shark fins. Exports of shark fins increased from 90 metric tons in 2020 to 321 metric tons in 2021. Revenues came to $9.7 million in 2021, according to the country’s central bank.

"This is something that should not be a business," Cely said.