Vessel Profiles

The unaffected

Some vessels apparently are not affected by being on the RFMOs’ IUU vessel lists. If Control and Management Measures (CMMs) of RFMOs are lax or if coastal states do not enforce the measures as required by RFMOs, IUU-listed vessels can often continue their operations unimpaired. The lack of a definitive vessel identification—an International Maritime Organisation number, for example—facilitates this situation. Potentially, about 50 percent of all IUU-listed vessels fall into this category, continuing their IUU operations unaffected.

The eluded

Some owners choose to take their IUU-listed vessels out of the convention area of the RFMO that listed their ships, to avoid sanctions as imposed in the relevant CMMs of the RFMO, the vessels can then continue their IUU operations. Cooperation between RFMOs—the mutual acceptance of IUU vessel lists between NAFO and NEAFC, for example—and the adoption of NAFO, NEAFC and CCAMLR IUU vessel lists by SEAFO, makes such escapes more difficult. This strategy appears to be more viable for reefers than fishing vessels.

The eliminated

The IUU listing makes it impossible for some vessels to continue their operations. For the vessels involved in IUU fishery for redfish in the Northeast Atlantic-Irminger Sea, NEAFC started targeting the reefers that service them in 2004, thereby cutting off their ability to land illegally caught fish. These vessels stop fishing. The classic examples are the five Rostock Girls.