Caesar speaks about Caribbean efforts to combat organized crime in fishing
Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing is a major threat to fisheries resources in the Caribbean Region, undermining our efforts to conserve and manage our comparatively limited fish stocks. In addition to the loss of social and economic opportunities and the negative effects on food security and environmental protection, IUU fishing prevents our governments from achieving their fisheries management goals and objectives.
The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is concerned about the links between IUU fishing and other forms of crime related to fishing such as document fraud and forgery, tax crimes, and money laundering; as well as organized criminal activities, which use fishing as a cover, including drug trafficking, human trafficking, arms trafficking and trading in contraband fuel and other goods.
Given the impacts on national and regional security, governance, and sustainable development of our countries, the fight against IUU fishing and associated maritime criminal activities is a high priority for CARICOM countries.
In keeping with CARICOM’s commitment to dealing with this, the Castries (St. Lucia) Declaration on IUU Fishing, adopted in 2010, outlines the actions expected of Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) Member States via a harmonized, multi-pronged approach to combat IUU fishing.
The Regional Strategy on Monitoring, Control and Surveillance to Combat Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing in the CARICOM / CARIFORUM Region was finalised in 2013 and in 2014 approved by the eighth meeting of the CRFM Ministerial Council, which directed its implementation. It builds on the principles inherent to the FAO Code of Conduct (article 6), the International Plan of Action to Prevent deter and Eliminate Illegal Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (IPOA-IUU, article 9) and relevant binding international fisheries instruments.
The 2014 Caribbean Community Common Fisheries Policy (CCCFP) is the overarching fisheries policy of the Caribbean Community, and among its objectives is the prevention, deterrence, and elimination of IUU fishing with an emphasis on the establishment and upkeep of effective monitoring, control, and surveillance (MCS) systems.
At its tenth meeting, the Ministerial Council noted that five (5) Member States had ratified the Port State Agreement aimed at strengthening international framework to combat IUU fishing. That meeting also urged FAO to take appropriate measures to ensure the accuracy of fishery production data published in their Reports especially from countries suspected of engaging in IUU fishing as a way of combating its known level
The eleventh meeting of Ministerial Council noted that the 2017 Harmonized System (HS) of Tariff Nomenclature facilitated more disaggregated reporting of fisheries products and allowed better identification of products coming into a country and would therefore be helpful in deterring IUU fishing and seafood fraud.
At the thirteenth meeting of the Ministerial Council, a call for collective regional efforts to engage trading partners and IUU fishing nations for conch, lobster and other high-value species through official communications was endorsed.
The fourteenth meeting of the Ministerial Council reiterated the importance of strengthening national legislations and regulations to manage resources and combat IUU fishing, given the challenges faced by management by RFMOs.
The Heads of State and Government had instructed to the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) and the Organization of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Sector of the Central American Isthmus (OSPESCA) work together to strengthen cooperation between the two regional fisheries organizations to improve the conservation, management and sustainable development of marine living resources of the Caribbean Sea. In keeping with this mandate The CRFM and OSPESCA Secretariats and Member States seek to work together to strengthen cooperation to deter, prevent and eliminate IUU fishing in the region; focusing on implementation of the measures recommended in the Joint WECAFC/CRFM/OSPESCA Plan of Action on IUU Fishing, which was approved by the 17th WECAFC Commission Meeting, July 2019.
Development of what has now become the Western Central Atlantic Fisheries Commission’s (WECAFC) Regional Plan of Action to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate IUU Fishing (RPOA-IUU) in the Wider Caribbean Region, and which was also approved by the ninth special meeting of the CRFM Ministerial Council, was spearheaded and coordinated by the Joint CRFM/WECAFC/OSPESCA Working Group on IUU fishing (RWG-IUU), which is convened by the CRFM Secretariat.
The Fifteenth Meeting of the CRFM Ministerial Council, in May 2021, passed Resolution No. MC 15 (6) of 2021, expressing support for the Copenhagen Declaration on Transnational Organized Crime in the Global Fishing Industry and encouraging Ministers Responsible for Fisheries of CRFM Member States to individually support the Declaration. The meeting also directed that Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing and organized crime in the fishing industry should be a standing item on the agenda of future Ministerial Council meetings.
At the CRFM Ministerial Meeting on Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing and Transnational Organized Crime in the Fishing Industry, in October 2021, 12 Member Countries of our Community signed on to the Copenhagen Declaration and, by extension, the Blue Justice Initiative.
A Technical Meeting on Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing and Transnational Organized Crime in the Fishing Industry, in March 2022, noted the need to follow up with the Blue Justice Initiative, the Blue Resilience Project as well as the Blue Fairness Project to advance the region’s engagement on its combined approach to addressing IUU fishing and transnational organized crime in the fishing industry; including, in this context, issues related to human trafficking. The meeting also urged all countries to register with the Blue Justice Community
Mindful of this, the sixteenth meeting of the Ministerial Council, in April of this year, called on the Member States that had already signed the Copenhagen Declaration to avail themselves of every opportunity afforded them through the Blue Justice Initiative and asked the Member States that have not yet done so, to adopt the Declaration to derive all possible benefits from the Blue Justice Initiative
The CRFM, CARICOM Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS), the Regional Security System (RSS), the Western Central Atlantic Fisheries Commission, and UNODC have been working individually and together to address Illegal fishing and other marine crime in the Region, including more recently as part of a regional Maritime Security Strategy.
Since 2020 we have gradually increased the collaboration with the Blue Justice Initiative to enhance our capacities and maritime domain awareness using available digital tools and collaborative networks in our efforts to combat illegal fishing and other crime in the fisheries sector.
Our countries have worked to deal with the twin scourges of IUU fishing and transnational organised crime in the fishing industry; and look forward to strengthening partnerships, technical assistance and support in the implementation of the various regional and sub-regional instruments that are adopted to combat fisheries crime.
We welcome the opportunities available through the Copenhagen Declaration and the Blue Justice Initiative.
We attach great importance and value to opportunity to cooperate with other affected countries and organisation to improve understanding and knowledge of fisheries crime, identify countermeasures, build capacity and utilize available tools & technologies being made available to enhance our capacities to prevent, deter and eradicate organized crime in the fishing industry in the region and globally.
In closing, I thank the Government of Norway, the Blue Justice Initiative and the Blue Resilience Project for the cooperation and support provided to our countries to address this difficult problem.
