A Cebr report for The Pew Charitable Trusts

The report can be downloaded by following this link

The purpose of this research is to examine the impacts of information sharing between neighbouring coastal states on the prevalence of illegal, unregulated, or unreported (IUU) fishing activities and the overall health of fisheries. Specifically, the studies seek to determine whether co-operation between countries via the sharing of detection information – a key element of the Port State Measures Agreement – can deter and reduce IUU fishing while also boosting the level of biomass in the fisheries. The analysis is carried out through the development of an agent-based model (ABM) of IUU fishing comprising two representative coastal states that share a sea border and have independent enforcement frameworks. A series of fishing vessels conduct fishing operations within this environment, with each vessel having the option of conducting either legal or IUU activities. Each of the two countries’ jurisdictions contain part of the same shared fishery resource, meaning that actions taken by one country will impact upon its neighbour.