Question Period Note: Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing

• To protect sensitive ecosystems and legitimate economic activity in our shared oceans, Canada works with international partners to support sustainable fisheries, and to fight against illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing in the high seas.
• Canada is recognized as a leader in this regard, having championed the adoption of strong, science-based fishing management measures in international fora, and undertaken significant enforcement efforts, via satellite monitoring, air surveillance and high seas boardings and inspections over recent years.
• We are working with our partners to help strengthen their capacities to monitor activities and enforce measures in their own waters, such as providing countries like the Philippines and Ecuador access to our innovative Dark Vessel Detection System. The Dark Vessel Detection program is also deployed to support 15 Pacific Island states.
• Through these efforts, and as a founding member and current chair of the Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing Action Alliance, we are driving global efforts to tackle illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing and protect our own fisheries and ecosystems as well as those around the world.

BACKGROUND
• It is estimated that illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) accounts for between 20 and 30 percent of seafood caught worldwide, representing a value of up to $23.5 billion U.S. every year. It poses a major threat to the sustainable and profitable management of fish stocks and is also increasingly linked to crimes of convergence such as drug trafficking and human slavery.
• Canada’s economy (75,000 jobs in the primary fishing and aquaculture sector) and natural resources are put at serious risk by IUU fishing. For example, it poses a risk to salmon population in the North Pacific Ocean and may be a driver of Pacific salmon declines.
• Since 2019, DFO has participated in Operation North Pacific Guard, a multilateral fisheries enforcement operation conducted in the North Pacific with the US, Japan, and Republic of Korea to detect and deter IUU fishing. In 2023, Canada led its first dedicated high-seas vessel patrol in the North Pacific, in addition to aerial surveillance patrols. During this mission, officers documented 58 fisheries violations, including detecting 3000 illegally harvested shark fins. The second Canadian-led Operation North Pacific Guard launched on 1 October 2024 at the Port of Yokohama, Japan.
• Through its membership in Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs), Canada championed strengthened international governance mechanisms, the adoption of strong and enforceable conservation management measures to curb IUU fishing, along with the adoption of strong compliance processes and IUU vessel listing schemes to ensure that Members and IUU fishing actors are held accountable.
• Canada was involved in negotiations at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to adopt the landmark Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, which prohibits subsidies that contribute to IUU fishing and for fishing activities on the high seas that are outside a relevant RFMO. The Agreement will enter into force when two-thirds of the WTO membership (110 members) have ratified. Canada formally accepted the Agreement in May 2023. As of March 7, 2024, 71 members have ratified.
• Canada ratified the Port State Measures Agreement in 2019, which aims to prevent IUU fishing vessels from landing catches in the ports of member states, and actively advocates for the implementation of enabling rules in RFMOs to require monitoring from boat to port.
• In 2022, Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom launched the IUU Fishing Action Alliance (IUU-AA), aiming to address IUU fishing globally by emphasizing transparency, technology utilization, and partnerships. Canada is Chair of the IUU-AA for 2024-2025.
• In 2022, Canada announced its Indo-Pacific Strategy and DFO established the Shared Ocean Fund (SOF), investing more than $84 M over five years to increase maritime cooperation and create a healthy marine environment in region while support measures against IUU fishing. To accomplish this, DFO is taking a three pronged approach through enhanced governance, enforcement and partnerships.
o The SOF supports enhanced engagement at RFMOs where DFO negotiates legally-binding and science-based measures for the sustainable management of high seas fisheries and to counter IUU fishing.
o The SOF is also supporting the provisions of access for various Pacific states to our Dark Vessel Detection (DVD) spaced based surveillance platform, which uses satellites to track illegal fishing vessels and support marine security. In late 2023, Canada signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Philippines to provide their maritime authorities access to the DVD platform.
 

• Last year, through aerial surveillance and in Canada’s first dedicated high-seas vessel patrol and fisheries enforcement mission in the North Pacific, Fisheries and Oceans Canada officers documented 58 fisheries violations, including the detection of 3000 illegally harvested shark fins. The second year of this operation was launched September 4th, 2024, from Victoria, BC.