Question Period Note: Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing

• Canada works actively with international partners to support sustainable fisheries and to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing in our shared oceans.
• Canada is a leader in this field, having championed the international adoption of strong, science-based fishing management measures, and undertaken significant enforcement efforts via satellite monitoring, air surveillance, and high seas boardings and inspections over recent years.
• As the Chair of the Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing Action Alliance, Canada is driving efforts to tackle harmful activity and protect national and global fisheries and ecosystems.

• It is estimated that illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing accounts for 20 to 30 per cent of seafood caught worldwide, representing a value of up to USD $23.5 billion every year. It poses a major threat to the sustainable and profitable management of fish stocks and is often linked to crimes of convergence such as drug trafficking and human slavery.
• China operates the world’s largest distant water fishing fleet, including hundreds of vessels in the North Pacific.
• 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.
• Through its membership in Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs), Canada negotiates legally-binding and science-based measures for the sustainable management of shared fish stocks, including in the high seas, and advocates for the adoption of strong compliance and enforcement regimes to counter IUU fishing.
• One focal area of effort by Canada in recent years has been to establish and strengthen provisions for high seas boarding and inspection at tuna RFMOs.
• Since 2019, DFO has participated in Operation North Pacific Guard, a multilateral fisheries enforcement operation conducted in the North Pacific with the United States, Japan, and Republic of Korea to detect and deter IUU fishing. In 2025, Canada led its third dedicated high-seas vessel patrol in the North Pacific, and for the first time, delivered air surveillance in direct support of Canada's surface asset. While at sea, fishery officers conducted inspections of 41 fishing vessels under international law, detecting 39 potential violations. Fishery officers continued to find significant quantities of illegally harvested shark fins, evidence of illegal cetacean harvest, as well incidents of misreported and unreported catch and bycatch, and the retention of prohibited species (e.g., Pacific salmon).
• 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 2025, 92 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 the Chair of the IUU-AA until spring 2026.
• In 2022, Canada announced its Indo-Pacific Strategy and DFO established the Shared Ocean Fund, investing more than $80M over five years to increase maritime cooperation and create a healthy marine environment in the region while supporting measures against IUU fishing.

If pressed on Canadian Initiatives
• In 2025, Canada led its third dedicated high seas vessel patrol and fisheries enforcement mission in the North Pacific and conducted daily patrols via aerial surveillance. My department’s Fishery Officers found illegally harvested dolphins, shark fins, misreporting of catch and bycatch, and obstruction and destruction of evidence.
• Through High Seas Boarding and Inspection, Canadian Fishery Officers monitor the new ban on Pacific salmon retention, which has been in force for North Pacific fishing fleets since July 2024. This directly supports the health and sustainability of Canadian salmon populations.
• At Regional Fisheries Management Organizations, Canada has been working to establish high seas boarding and inspection rules in regions where none currently exist, such as for tuna fisheries through the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas and the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission.
If pressed about China’s distant water fleet:
• Canada operates monitoring and surveillance activities, including air patrols and high seas enforcement operations in the North Pacific, to enforce the international law related to international fishing.
• Canada addresses any illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing activity detected bilaterally and through the appropriate compliance mechanisms established by Regional Fisheries Management organizations.