An International Agreement to Fight "Fish Pirates"

Edited by Graham Walker

Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU fishing) is a major international problem with a direct impact on Canada. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in 2000, estimated that some 30% of the global catch was the result of IUU fishing. Such activity undermines conservation and enforcement efforts, ignores labour and safety standards and distorts trade in export markets. About 85% of fish caught by commercial fishers in Canadian waters (worth some $3 billion a year) is exported. IUU fishing results in an unpredictable supply of fish on foreign markets, thus causing price fluctuations that threaten to make Canadian fish harvesting unprofitable. The operation of these "fish pirates" has already been addressed in some countries by national legislation. Canada, for example, implemented a Port Access Policy in 2003 under the Coastal Fisheries Protection Act and its Regulations, granting the Minister of Fisheries and