News
Print Article

NOT knowing your UBO fuels US$11.5bn in illegal fishing [your fish supper!!]

26/04/2023

NOT knowing your UBO has a direct impact in the fight against environmental crimes, particularly illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, which is devastating the world’s fisheries resources, accounting for up to one-fifth of global catches.

The financial secrecy surrounding the owners of vessels is a key driver of IUU fishing as secrecy makes it harder to catch the real perpetrators of this illegal trade.

Most of the world’s IUU fishing takes place in Africa:-

  • Which loses US$11.5bn in illicit financial flows linked to IUU fishing every year.

A significant proportion of this illicit catch in Africa is caught in West Africa,

  • With US$9.5bn losses in this region alone,

And much of the fish caught in Africa by foreign fleets ends up in Europe.

  • In total, the European continent imports some US$14bn worth of seafood from the global South each year, making it a key market for seafood products.

In a report published by the Financial Transparency Coalition in October 2022, it was discovered that:-

  • Among the top 10 operators of vessels reported to be engaged in this illicit practice, one was based in Spain:-
  • While a total of 30 vessels were flagged to Italy, making it the highest European flag jurisdiction for IUU fishing.
  • In total, we found that 12.8% of all vessels engaged in IUU fishing were flagged to a European country.

Read more:-

General

The Team

Meet the team of industry experts behind Comsure

Find out more

Latest News

Keep up to date with the very latest news from Comsure

Find out more

Gallery

View our latest imagery from our news and work

Find out more

Contact

Think we can help you and your business? Chat to us today

Get In Touch

News Disclaimer

As well as owning and publishing Comsure's copyrighted works, Comsure wishes to use the copyright-protected works of others. To do so, Comsure is applying for exemptions in the UK copyright law. There are certain very specific situations where Comsure is permitted to do so without seeking permission from the owner. These exemptions are in the copyright sections of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended)[www.gov.UK/government/publications/copyright-acts-and-related-laws]. Many situations allow for Comsure to apply for exemptions. These include 1] Non-commercial research and private study, 2] Criticism, review and reporting of current events, 3] the copying of works in any medium as long as the use is to illustrate a point. 4] no posting is for commercial purposes [payment]. (for a full list of exemptions, please read here www.gov.uk/guidance/exceptions-to-copyright]. Concerning the exceptions, Comsure will acknowledge the work of the source author by providing a link to the source material. Comsure claims no ownership of non-Comsure content. The non-Comsure articles posted on the Comsure website are deemed important, relevant, and newsworthy to a Comsure audience (e.g. regulated financial services and professional firms [DNFSBs]). Comsure does not wish to take any credit for the publication, and the publication can be read in full in its original form if you click the articles link that always accompanies the news item. Also, Comsure does not seek any payment for highlighting these important articles. If you want any article removed, Comsure will automatically do so on a reasonable request if you email info@comsuregroup.com.