International Seafood Sustainability Foundation

IUU Fishing

The Issue

Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing is a direct threat to the sustainability of global tuna stocks. This modern day piracy threatens the capacity of regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs) to protect tuna fisheries by impacting the ability of scientists to assess the health of tuna stocks, jeopardizing the effectiveness of science-based management and conservation measures and blocking the ability of nations to monitor and enforce compliance.

What ISSF is Doing

ISSF has committed to working towards eliminating illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing of the world’s tuna stocks. In fact, IUU fishing was the first issue tackled by the ISSF Board of Directors in 2009. Since then, ISSF has advocated for change and called for direct action to stop this unsustainable practice.

Today, ISSF is putting the partnership to work for RFMOs by urging industry to refrain from transactions with vessels listed as IUU. ISSF has also set a standard for traceability that ensures companies working with us have the ability to trace tuna from capture to plate.

What ISSF Wants to Accomplish

The goal is the worldwide elimination of illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing activities for tuna.

ISSF plans to accomplish this by:

  1. Establishing a global IUU vessel list.
  2. Establishing a global list of authorized fishing vessels.
  3. Restricting market access to IUU caught tuna.
  4. Making a preference for vessels on the global list of authorized fishing vessel.