The Winding Glass: Can we stop IUU fishing by thinking outside the box?
Campaigns against IUU fishing by both the industry and environmentalists continually run up against a problem: government enforcement.
Enforcement is not as much of an issue for rich countries with well-developed fisheries management systems, and strong enforcement histories.
In these cases, when IUU fishing happens, it can be successfully exposed, prosecuted and ended.
For example, in 2012, 3 Scottish fish factories and 27 skippers plead guilty and were fined more than £1 million for illegally harvesting mackerel in excess of EU quotas.
Carlos Rafael, the largest owner of scallop vessels in New Bedford, went to jail in 2017 over falsifying sales records to hide illegal landings.
Similar enforcement has happened in Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Japan, France and elsewhere.
But too often governments are not able to effectively enforce...
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