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Non-compliers typically avoid detection by authorities, benefiting from increased catch and income. While detection-avoidance strategies (e.g., secret compartments to hide illegal catch) are commonly used in the nature conservation context, they remain largely unstudied. We address this knowledge gap in three sections. First, we introduce and hypothesize the likelihood of non-compliers adopting detection-avoidance strategies in the broader conservation context. Second, we identify and categorize detection-avoidance strategies used by small-scale fishers. Third, we provide recommendations for countering detection-avoidance strategies (i.e., countermeasures). Because countermeasures are context-specific, they should be informed through systematic processes such as the intelligence cycle. If used properly, enforcement activities and countermeasures can help build voluntary compliance, particularly through procedural justice, or acting in a way that users perceive as fair and just.

Labor abuse on fishing vessels and illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing violate human rights, jeopardize food security, and deprive governments of revenues. We applied a multi-method approach, combining new empirical data with satellite information on fishing activities and vessel characteristics to map risks of labor abuse and IUU fishing, understand their relationships, and identify major drivers. Port risks were globally pervasive and often coupled, with 57% of assessed ports associated with labor abuse or IUU fishing. For trips ending in assessed ports, 82% were linked to labor abuse or IUU fishing risks. At-sea risk areas were primarily driven by fishing vessel flags linked to poor control of corruption by the flag state, high ownership by countries other than the flag state, and Chinese-flagged vessels. Transshipment risk areas were related to the gear type of fishing vessels engaged in potential transshipment and carrier vessel flags. Measures at port offer promise for mitigating risks, through the Port State Measures Agreement for IUU fishing, and ensuring sufficient vessel time at port to detect and respond to labor abuse. Our results highlight the need for coordinated action across actors to avoid risk displacement and make progress towards eliminating these socially, environmentally and economically unsustainable practices. Taking action to reduce risks of labor abuse and illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in the fishing sector is hindered by a lack of spatially explicit data and an understanding of different drivers of risks. Here the authors combine expert assessments with satellite information to map and quantify risks of labor abuse and IUU fishing at port, at sea and associated with transshipment globally.

Preventing illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing—which depletes fishery resources—is a critical task in international fisheries governance. Many countries operate vessel monitoring systems (VMS) and electronic reporting systems (ERS) to track their fishing vessels, while regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs) are actively considering the adoption of electronic monitoring systems (EMS). Although ERS and EMS share the same operational goals, differences in their concepts and functions lead to technical and institutional limitations when implemented separately. This study presents a conceptual design of an intelligent electronic monitoring and reporting (I-EMR) system model, which integrates the strengths of both systems to address these limitations and provides a framework for efficient operation. The necessity for the prompt and proactive adoption of such systems is reinforced by recent analyses of global IUU fishing trends, which indicate that IUU activities are not decreasing despite existing monitoring efforts. While empirical validation is beyond the scope of this study, the conceptual framework aims to support transparent management of fishery resources, facilitate real-time monitoring of fishing activities, and serve as a foundation for future pilot testing and operational deployment.

Illegal and unreported fishing contributes to overexploitation of fish stocks and is a hindrance to the recovery of fish populations and ecosystems. This study is the first to undertake a world-wide analysis of illegal and unreported fishing. Reviewing the situation in 54 countries and on the high seas, we estimate that lower and upper estimates of the total value of current illegal and unreported fishing losses worldwide are between $10 bn and $23.5 bn annually, representing between 11 and 26 million tonnes. Our data are of sufficient resolution to detect regional differences in the level and trend of illegal fishing over the last 20 years, and we can report a significant correlation between governance and the level of illegal fishing. Developing countries are most at risk from illegal fishing, with total estimated catches in West Africa being 40% higher than reported catches. Such levels of exploitation severely hamper the sustainable management of marine ecosystems. Although there have been some successes in reducing the level of illegal fishing in some areas, these developments are relatively recent and follow growing international focus on the problem. This paper provides the baseline against which successful action to curb illegal fishing can be judged.

The daily vertical migrations of fish and other metazoans actively transport organic carbon from the ocean surface to depth, contributing to the biological carbon pump. We use an oxygen-constrained, game-theoretic food-web model to simulate diel vertical migrations and estimate near-global (global ocean minus coastal areas and high latitudes) carbon fluxes and sequestration by fish and zooplankton due to respiration, fecal pellets, and deadfalls. Our model provides estimates of the carbon export and sequestration potential for a range of pelagic functional groups, despite uncertain biomass estimates of some functional groups. While the export production of metazoans and fish is modest (∼20 % of global total), we estimate that their contribution to carbon sequestered by the biological pump (∼800 PgC) is conservatively more than 50 % of the estimated global total (∼1300 PgC) and that they have a significantly longer sequestration timescale (∼250 years) than previously reported for other components of the biological pump. Fish and multicellular zooplankton contribute about equally to this sequestered carbon pool. This essential ecosystem service could be at risk from both unregulated fishing on the high seas and ocean deoxygenation due to climate change.

The ability for satellite sensors to detect lit fishing boats has been known since the 1970s. However, the use of the observations has been limited by the lack of an automatic algorithm for reporting the location and brightness of offshore lighting features arising from boats. An examination of lit fishing boat features in Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) day/night band (DNB) data indicates that the features are essentially spikes. We have developed a set of algorithms for automatic detection of spikes and characterization of the sharpness of spike features. A spike detection algorithm generates a list of candidate boat detections. A second algorithm measures the height of the spikes for the discard of ionospheric energetic particle detections and to rate boat detections as either strong or weak. A sharpness index is used to label boat detections that appear blurry due to the scattering of light by clouds. The candidate spikes are then filtered to remove features on land and gas flares. A validation study conducted using analyst selected boat detections found the automatic algorithm detected 99.3% of the reference pixel set. VIIRS boat detection data can provide fishery agencies with up-to-date information of fishing boat activity and changes in this activity in response to new regulations and enforcement regimes. The data can provide indications of illegal fishing activity in restricted areas and incursions across Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) boundaries. VIIRS boat detections occur widely offshore from East and Southeast Asia, South America and several other regions.

Maritime piracy constitutes a major threat to global shipping and international trade. We argue that fishers turn to piracy to smooth expected income losses and to deter illegal foreign fishing fleets. Previous investigations have generally focused on cross-national determinants of the incidence of piracy in territorial waters. These investigations neglect piracy in international waters and ignore its spatial dependence, whereby pirate attacks cluster in certain locations due to neighborhood and spillover effects. We conduct a geographically disaggregated analysis using geo-referenced data of piracy and its covariates between 2005 and 2014. We demonstrate that the incidence of piracy in a particular location is associated with higher catch volumes from high-bycatch and habitat-destroying fishing, even when controlling for conditions in proximate coastal areas. We find, additionally, that illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing exerts an especially pronounced effect on piracy. These findings highlight the need for anti-piracy solutions beyond enforcement to include the policing of fishing practices that are illegal or are perceived by local fishers in vulnerable coastal areas to be harmful to small-scale fishing economies.

Over the last decade, West African coastal countries, including Ghana, have experienced extensive economic damage due to illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing activity, estimated at about USD 100 million in losses each year. Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing poses an enormous threat to the conservation and management of the dwindling fish stocks, causing multiple adverse consequences for fisheries, coastal and marine ecosystems and for the people who depend on these resources. The Integrated System for Surveillance of Illegal, Unlicensed and Unreported Fishing (INSURE) is an efficient and inexpensive system that has been developed for the monitoring of IUU fishing in Ghanaian waters. It makes use of fast-delivery Earth observation data from the synthetic aperture radar instrument on Sentinel-1 and the Multi Spectral Imager on Sentinel-2, detecting objects that differ markedly from their immediate background using a constant false alarm rate test. Detections are matched to, and verified by, Automatic Identification System (AIS) data, which provide the location and dimensions of ships that are legally operating in the region. Matched and unmatched data are then displayed on a web portal for use by coastal management authorities in Ghana. The system has a detection success rate of 91% for AIS-registered vessels, and a fast throughput, processing and delivering information within 2 h of acquiring the satellite overpass. However, over the 17-month analysis period, 75% of SAR detections have no equivalent in the AIS record, suggesting significant unregulated marine activity, including vessels potentially involved in IUU. The INSURE system demonstrated its efficiency in Ghana’s exclusive economic zone and it can be extended to the neighbouring states in the Gulf of Guinea, or other geographical regions that need to improve fisheries surveillance.