Table 3. Curbing illicit trade.

Suggested options to curb illegal fishing and the associated illicit trade in marine seafood.

Focal area	Governments	Industry
Improve transparency	Mandatory Automatic Identification System (AIS)/Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) on all commercial fishing vessels	Publicly commit to 100% AIS/VMS coverage on all vessels
	Mandatory observer coverage using video monitoring systems	Publicly commit to 100% observer coverage
	Mandatory International Maritime Organization (IMO) ship identification number scheme to empower identification of beneficial ownership and vessel history	Publicly commit for all vessels
	Maintain a public database of all fishing records
	Publish rules/regulations in plain language and on easily accessible platforms for public and industry utility
	Reduce the number of countries registering vessels as flags of convenience	Publicly commit to avoid flags of convenience and flag hopping
		Publicly commit to whole-of-industry supply chain accountability
Policy	Ratify and enforce the 2012 Cape Town Agreement*
	Ratify and enforce the 2009 Port State Measures Agreement†
	Design and implement an international standard policy for transshipment practices	Publicly commit to rapidly phase out all transshipments
	Apply market sanctions to encourage all flag states to join relevant fisheries agreements
	Require insurance companies to only insure vessels that are not on any IUU list and restrict fishing access to insured vessels
		Full and transparent accounting of all species and locations fished by every vessel in annual shareholder and Annual General Meeting reports
Enforcement	Criminalize illegal fishing practices in all countries
	Apply innovative approaches to monitor and enforce national waters, e.g., Tanzania/Sea Shepard partnership
	Establish and strengthen inter-agency cooperation
	Reduce corruption along the fisheries value chain

*See Pew Charitable Trusts, “The Cape Town Agreement” (2017).

†See (23).