New Oceana research: EU long distance fishing fleet more than double as large as officially known, when foreign-flagged vessels are included
Press Release Date: June 9, 2025
Location: Nice
Contact:
Irene Campmany | email: icampmany@oceana.org | tel.: +34 682 622 245
At the UN Ocean Conference, the organisation calls to unmask those who profit from fishing vessels flagged outside the EU
Currently, there is no obligation for EU citizens and companies to register their ownership of foreign-flagged vessels with European authorities
Nice, France. Oceana calls on EU Member States to require their citizens and companies to register their ownership of vessels flagged to non-EU nations, as evidence shows that EU nationals own vessels in countries at high risk for illegal fishing or with weak fisheries controls. The organisation presented new evidence supporting its claims at the United Nations Ocean Conference.
Recent research from the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain), commissioned by Oceana, found that the EU accounts for the largest share of foreign-owned fishing vessels identified in the study. While the EU reports 244 EU-flagged long-distance fishing vessels, the research found an additional 344 EU-owned vessels, flagged in over 40 different countries – more than doubling the real size of the EU long-distance fishing fleet. One in four of the EU-owned vessels are registered in countries whose governance practices raise concerns, namely flags of convenience, tax havens or countries that have received a ‘yellow card’ warning from the EU for failing to take sufficient action against illegal fishing.
“Some EU-owned vessels use shell companies, change flags and fish in countries with weak oversight. Not controlling these activities clearly undermines international law and the EU’s zero tolerance policy against illegal fishing. It also hinders efforts to sustainably manage marine resources, and limits accountability” explains Vanya Vulperhorst, Illegal Fishing and Transparency campaign director at Oceana in Europe.
Currently, there is no obligation for EU citizens and companies to register their ownership of such vessels with the authorities, which means that these ownership links remain largely under the radar and with little scrutiny. This lack of control allows profits from foreign fishing activities to flow back to Europe, whether or not those activities are legal, sustainable, or ethical.
“The current lack of transparency in the fishing sector may enable those profiting from illegal fishing to evade sanctions. As one of the world’s largest producers and consumers of seafood, the EU has the responsibility to ensure that its citizens and companies are not involved in illegal fishing activities under any country’s flag” said Ocean Advocate and Senior Advisor to Oceana, Alexandra Cousteau.
To effectively strengthen transparency on the ultimate beneficial owners of fishing vessels, the European Commission must create a centralised database with up-to-date and complete beneficial ownership1 information. This would enable authorities, civil society, and the countries where these vessels fish to hold these ultimate beneficiaries accountable for the activities of their vessels and to strengthen global fisheries governance. This would also bring the EU and its Member States closer to meeting the 10 principles of the Global Fisheries Transparency Charter, which sets out key values to increase transparency in the fishing sector.
References:
1 A beneficial owner is the individual or entity who ultimately owns, controls, and profits from a vessel’s fishing operations. To hide their identity, some EU companies operate under the so-called flags of convenience, countries with limited control over their fleets, weak enforcement capacity, and lax regulations that allow operators to easily circumvent fisheries rules. The EU IUU Regulation prohibits EU citizens and companies from engaging in or supporting illegal fishing, and from owning fishing vessels flagged to countries that have received a seafood trade ban.
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