Abstract

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.

Details

Title
Revealing global risks of labor abuse and illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing
Author
Selig, Elizabeth R 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Nakayama Shinnosuke 1 ; Wabnitz, Colette C, C 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Österblom Henrik 3   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Spijkers Jessica 4 ; Miller, Nathan A 5 ; Bebbington, Jan 6   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Decker Sparks Jessica L 7   VIAFID ORCID Logo 

 Stanford University, Stanford Center for Ocean Solutions, Stanford, USA (GRID:grid.168010.e) (ISNI:0000000419368956) 
 Stanford University, Stanford Center for Ocean Solutions, Stanford, USA (GRID:grid.168010.e) (ISNI:0000000419368956); University of British Columbia, Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, Vancouver, Canada (GRID:grid.17091.3e) (ISNI:0000 0001 2288 9830) 
 Stockholm University, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm, Sweden (GRID:grid.10548.38) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 9377); The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Tokyo, Japan (GRID:grid.26999.3d) (ISNI:0000 0001 2151 536X) 
 Stockholm University, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm, Sweden (GRID:grid.10548.38) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 9377); James Cook University, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, Townsville, Australia (GRID:grid.1011.1) (ISNI:0000 0004 0474 1797) 
 Global Fishing Watch, Washington, USA (GRID:grid.512016.1) 
 Lancaster University, The Pentland Centre for Sustainability in Business, Lancaster, UK (GRID:grid.9835.7) (ISNI:0000 0000 8190 6402) 
 Highfield House, University of Nottingham Rights Lab, Nottingham, UK (GRID:grid.4563.4) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 8868) 
Publication year
2022
Publication date
2022
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20411723
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2647050031
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2022. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.