IUU fishing benefits unscrupulous vessels in the short run and harms the seafood industry in the long term.
ISSF focuses on proactively eliminating illicit fishing practices over time through a multi-pronged approach, which includes conservation measures, initiatives, tools, and outreach to Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs).
We assess tuna RFMOs’ transshipment regulations for fleets, which can help to prevent illegal-fishing activities, against best-practice recommendations.
Electronic monitoring systems (EMS) on vessels can track catch, bycatch, transshipment, and landings, and also are a powerful tool for detecting IUU fishing.
To help prevent illegally caught tuna from entering the seafood supply chain, we partnered with seafood companies to make permanent and unique vessel identifiers (UVI) — which facilitate vessel tracking and allow seafood traceability — a standard practice.
Our IMO/UVI Vessel List includes all tuna fishing vessels with an IMO number. It also lists vessels not eligible for an IMO that are using either a Tuna Unique Vessel Identifier (TUVI) or an ISSF-UVI as an alternative UVI.
We issue ISSF-UVI numbers to vessels that cannot obtain an IMO number and do not have a TUVI number.
In addition to the IMO/UVI Vessel List, we manage other vessel lists that help to improve transparency and sustainability in tuna fishing:
ProActive Vessel Register (PVR) uses third-party auditing to transparently report on vessels implementing a series of best practices.
Vessels in Other Sustainability Initiatives (VOSI) lists tuna vessels that have made public commitments to sustainable fishing beyond the those reflected on the PVR.
Record of Large-Scale Purse Seine Vessels (LSPSR) shows all known large-scale purse-seine vessels worldwide fishing for tropical tuna.
ISSF participating companies commit to conform to our conservation measures on IUU fishing.
These measures ask participating tuna processors, traders, importers and markets to avoid transactions with vessels that are not flagged to the relevant RFMO member or cooperating non-member (unless the country has applied for such status).
We also urge them to refrain from transactions in tuna caught by:
ISSF supports RFMOs and their member governments in improving governance, science-based decision making, enforcement, and compliance. We also track tuna RFMO progress in implementing best practices to prevent IUU.
We promote Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS) approaches in tuna fisheries for IUU prevention, including:
We cover these and related topics in our scientific and best practices reports and also publish research findings in peer-reviewed articles.
Every year, we update our “snapshot” that summarizes best practices in IUU vessel listing — and shows each RFMO’s progress in implementing them.
The snapshot complements our best-practices report, ISSF 2022-08: Combatting IUU Fishing: Continual Improvement and Best Practices for IUU Listing Measures in Tuna RFMOs.
We report on best practices in RFMO authorized vessel lists, which are fundamental to robust fisheries management.
See a list of peer-reviewed articles co-authored by our staff, Scientific Advisory Committee members, or other scientists whose projects were partially or fully funded by ISSF.
