Illegal fishing and Australian security

ABSTRACT

The security impact of illegal fishing is not well understood. Where illegal fishing is recognised as a security problem, the focus has been on fish as a natural resource, the depletion of which can have impacts on food security, individual livelihoods, and the economic survival of states relying on illegal fishing. We argue that a focus on fish as a natural resource obscures the other security challenges the crime of illegal fishing poses to Australia. As this paper explains, illegal fishing overlaps with drug, human, weapon and other contraband trafficking and smuggling; irregular maritime arrivals; and maritime piracy. In addition, like other easily transported, high value resources, illegal fish can fund insurgencies and other types of political violence. Understanding illegal fishing as a security challenge will improve Australia’s national security policy. First, it acknowledges fish as a vital natural resource, implicated in economic, ecological, and human security; second, it analyses how illegal fishing interlinks with other maritime crimes; third, it challenges the effectiveness of monitoring and enforcement of illegal fishing; fourth, it presents an opportunity for effective regional cooperation; and finally it highlights the benefits of regional cooperation in responding to illegal fishing.

KEYWORDS:

• Maritime security
• illegal fishing
• national security
• transnational organised crime
• maritime piracy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Dr Jade Lindley is a criminologist at The University of Western Australia Law School and Oceans Institute, specialising in transnational organised crime, particularly in the maritime space.

Dr Sarah Percy is Associate Professor of International Relations at the University of Queensland. She has published widely on piracy, counter-piracy and maritime crime.

Dr Erika Techera is a Professor of Law at The University of Western Australia. She is a member of the UWA Public Policy Institute and UWA Oceans Institute. Erika's research focuses on international and comparative environmental law, and particularly issues related to oceans governance.

ORCID

Jade Lindley http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8598-6072

Sarah Percy http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9923-707X

Erika Techera http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8283-2967

Notes

1 Illegal fishing is included under the umbrella of what is commonly called IUU (illegal, unreported, and unregulated) fishing. This paper examines only illegal fishing. Methods of illegal fishing include harvesting of protected species, exceeding catch limits, utilising prohibited gear or equipment, or fishing in the waters of another state contrary to legislation. FAO 2016.

2 The extent of illegal fishing leading to piracy is contested. Somali pirates very rarely attacked fishing vessels as they are not strategically profitable via ransom negotiations, somewhat challenging the argument that piracy began through vigilante enforcement of fisheries crime (Hansen 2011); however, there is little doubt that Somali pirates claimed enforcing against fisheries crime was a key motivator.

3 This agreement can be found at http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/legal/docs/037s-e.pdf

4 The complexity created by the legal regulation of the world’s oceans is cited as an underlying cause of general political risk and potential conflict (Suárez-de Vivero and Rodríguez Mateos 2017).

5 Some RFMOs can mandate the use of tracking devices for fishing vessels, although tracking devices ordinarily only apply to SOLAS-class merchant ships.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by funding from the University of Western Australia.