Advocacy Groups Demand Government Action at 10th Our Ocean Conference
Ahead of the annual ocean conference, NGOs urge decision-makers to make bold commitments, addressing illegal fishing and seafood traceability
Press Release Date: April 28, 2025
Location: Busan, South Korea
Contact:
Anna Baxter | email: abaxter@oceana.org
Anna Baxter
Ahead of the 10th Our Ocean Conference in Busan, South Korea, this week, environmental organizations – including the EU IUU Fishing Coalition, IUU Forum Japan, Coalition for Fisheries Transparency, and the US IUU Fishing and Labor Rights Coalition – are urging governments to strengthen seafood traceability (i.e., tracing the origin of a seafood product through the entire supply chain, from “boat to plate”) to prevent products of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing or human rights violations from entering the market.
A new report from the EU IUU Fishing Coalition, released today, analyzes the EU, US, Japan, and South Korea traceability systems for imported seafood. The report reveals that although there have been significant improvements in the EU and South Korea catch documentation systems (designed to stop imports of illegal fish), opportunities still exist to better align information that these major market states collect, such as catch location, fishing gear used, and who is fishing. The EU IUU Fishing Coalition urges these major market states to close existing loopholes by harmonizing the data requirements of their systems to eliminate IUU products from entering the market. Furthermore, they encourage all market states to expand their national-level systems to cover all imported wild-caught fish.
Adopting comprehensive and harmonized digital seafood traceability systems, globally, is vital to combat IUU fishing, ensure responsible management of marine resources, protect marine ecosystems, and help prevent human rights and labor abuses at sea, as well as guarantee full transparency and accountability across seafood supply chains.
With this year’s conference focus “Our Ocean, Our Action,” groups are making an urgent call to world leaders to carry out the necessary reforms to:
- Strengthen and expand Import Control Schemes:
- Require robust import documentation to ensure the legality of imported seafood;
- Expand existing schemes to cover more species;
- Harmonize data requirements across key market states (EU, US, Japan, South Korea);
- Other market States must advance on the development of their own unilateral import control schemes to safeguard the market from the importation of illegal seafood products (Australia, Canada, etc.), and deter IUU fishing globally.
- Advance technology-driven traceability:
- Prioritize the adoption of electronic monitoring (EM) and digital catch documentation to verify catch and ensure the legality of seafood trade;
- Invest in data-sharing mechanisms between flag States (countries where a fishing vessel is registered) and market States (countries where the fish or seafood products are consumed, and responsible for ensuring that the seafood was caught legally);
- Establish a digital platform that provides key traceability data of fisheries products (i.e. vessel information, catch area, catch date, and processor/importer information) to consumers,
- Enhance global cooperation and harmonization:
- Support multilateral efforts for traceability in Regional Fisheries Management Organizations;
- Facilitate data synchronization and harmonization between national and regional traceability systems.
- Increase transparency to protect workers and address labor abuses:
- Implement traceability measures that expose labor rights violations in seafood supply chains;
- Governments and businesses must advance efforts to identify and act on high-risk supply chains for labor abuse and poor working conditions.
- Support the Global Charter for Fisheries Transparency:
- Adopt global transparency tools that enhance accountability, ensure sustainability, and promote fair labor practices in seafood supply chains. Principle 7 of the Global Charter specifically calls for the adoption of robust control systems to ensure the seafood is legal and traceable from “boat to plate,” conforming to relevant catch management measures.
Dr. Elizabeth McLeod, Global Ocean Director at The Nature Conservancy and representative of the EU IUU Fishing Coalition, said: “The 10th Our Ocean represents an opportunity to bring together the global community to collaborate, enhance, and advance policy and technology, to ensure the sustainable management of our ocean and its resources. We applaud recent developments in the EU, Japan, South Korea, the US and elsewhere to strengthen their traceability systems, and call on these major market states to intensify their efforts towards greater robustness and alignment.”
Wakao Hanaoka, Founder and CEO of Seafood Legacy and representative of the IUU Forum Japan, added: “East Asia is one of the world’s largest producers and consumers of seafood. The upcoming Our Ocean Conference in South Korea is a unique opportunity for the world to better understand approaches in East Asia towards seafood traceability, to further develop collaborations for the sustainable management of seafood resources.”
Maisie Pigeon, Director of the Coalition for Fisheries Transparency, stated: “Seafood traceability is fundamental to protecting our oceans, the people who depend on them, and the consumers who deserve to know where their seafood comes from. We are calling on governments to adopt robust traceability systems that follow catch from “boat to plate,” so that we can build a future where seafood is safe, sustainable, and responsibly sourced.”
Dr. Sarah Glaser, Senior Director of Oceans Futures, World Wildlife Fund, stated: “Proper seafood traceability systems promote both conservation and security. When governments and businesses commit to ensuring marine resources are managed and sourced in a traceable manner, they are also supporting efforts to improve overall transparency, reduce illegal fishing, promote food security, and protect human and labor rights at sea.”
Beth Lowell, Oceana’s Vice President for the United States and representative of the US IUU Fishing and Labor Rights Coalition, concluded: “Government leaders must prioritize seafood traceability and ensure that import control rules are harmonized across all major market states to allow for better coordination in the fight against IUU fishing, and to provide greater certainty for the fishing industry. We call on governments to join together to eradicate illegal fishing once and for all. It’s past time to close the chapter on illegal fishing and know that our seafood is safe, legally caught, and honestly labeled.”
As part of the Our Ocean Conference, participating NGOs are bringing together delegates from some of the world’s largest seafood producers and markets – Australia, the EU, Japan, Marshall Islands, South Korea, and the US – to a joint discussion on the importance and benefits of strengthening seafood traceability measures on a national, regional, and global scale. The event (“From Ocean to Plate: The Role of Technology and Harmonization in ensuring Seafood Traceability and fighting against IUU Fishing”), which takes place on 30 April, offers an opportunity for country representatives to share experiences and good practices, including the use of digital technology to facilitate monitoring of human activity at sea, making illegal fishing easier to detect and stop.
This coordinated effort aims to keep traceability a top priority on the political agenda at the Our Ocean Conference and beyond, as well as catalyze collaborative efforts to promote global action for sustainable management of our ocean and its marine resources.
