Authors: Clara Vullo and Ed Worsdell

Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing refers to fishing activities conducted in contravention of national, regional and international rules and obligations, with serious consequences for marine ecosystems and food security. Following its exit from the EU, the UK retained legislation aimed at protecting its market from IUU fishing-related imports, but is now falling behind the EU in strengthening and expanding these protections. Given that the UK is highly dependent on imported seafood – which represents an estimated 81% of our total seafood consumption – this divergence creates a risk of products linked to this destructive practice entering the UK marketplace.

In 2010, an EU regulation to prevent, deter and eliminate IUU fishing (the IUU Regulation 1005/2008) entered into force, introducing various measures such as catch certificates, a carding system and national reporting requirements. While the UK has retained the pre-Brexit version of this legislation, it has not kept pace with the EU which has developed and expanded its catch certificates – through the revised Control Regulation 2023/2842 – and ‘carding’ system.

Reforms in seafood import control measures in the UK would help to ensure an internal seafood market free of IUU-linked products, which not only are linked to fish stock depletion and the destruction of marine habitats, but are also associated with organised crime and human rights abuses. A recent report by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) and Open Seas found that UK consumers are at significant risk of buying illegally caught seafood – a result the report claims of insufficient implementation of existing measures and a failure to keep pace with EU developments.

Catch certificates

The UK has retained the IUU legislation introduced when part of the EU, which requires virtually all wild-caught seafood consignments to be accompanied by a catch certificate validated by the flag state of the fishing vessel. This certificate contains data on the vessel itself, the species of fish and where it was caught. However, the UK has not yet expanded its certificate requirements – as the EU recently has – to contain further information vital for traceability, and as such has fallen behind the EU in terms of these key data elements (KDEs). By January 2026, with the rollout of its updated catch certificate system, the EU will cover all 17 KDEs identified by the EU IUU Fishing Coalition as crucial for ensuring robust import controls. The UK, on the other hand, currently requires only 13. The four KDEs that are missing – catch area (including a clear distinction between EEZs and the high seas), port of landing, fishing gear type, and mandatory unique vessel identifiers – are essential in creating traceability and ensuring that seafood has been caught in a legal manner.

Additionally, the EU has replaced the previous paper-based process, which the UK continues to use, with a new digital system, known as CATCH, which introduces a digital catch certificate for all fishery products entering the EU market. Moving to a digital system should make certificate verification and data checks quicker and easier, thereby reducing fraud and allow for better identification of high-risk consignments.

Carding system

With the aim of incentivising flag states [1] to properly validate consignments and to drive improvements in measures addressing IUU fishing in third countries, the EU’s 2010 legislation introduced a new system for dialogue, warnings and sanctions: the carding system. If the required standards for fisheries management are not met, third countries can be “carded”. First, a formal warning (yellow card) is issued and the EU engages in formal discussions with these countries on how to address identified shortcomings. If they fail to do so, they may be banned from exporting seafood to the EU market (red-carded), while if they meet the required improvements, they can be delisted (green-carded) and can again export to the EU.

The UK has retained the trade restrictions with countries that were red-carded at the time of its exit from the EU. However, since 2021 it has diverged by default by not maintaining an active carding system and thereby not having issued any yellow or red cards, despite the EU having issued, in this same period, additional red cards to Cameroon and Trinidad and Tobago, and yellow cards to Senegal and Ghana. Resultingly, the UK’s lack of carding system is now failing both to drive fisheries reforms in third countries and to prevent seafood imports from nations linked to IUU fishing.

Reporting requirements

Whilst in the EU, the UK was required to submit biennial reports to the European Commission on its implementation of the IUU Regulation. Following Brexit, Article 55 which mandated this reporting was removed from the UK’s retained version of the IUU Regulation. Consequently, the UK no longer appears to systematically record this data on seafood import controls, and PHAs are under no obligation to report this data to the MMO.

As a result of the need to gather this information for the biennial reports, Article 55 also compelled PHAs to submit data concerning refusals of seafood consignments to the MMO. However, at present, British PHAs are not required to contact or notify the MMO of such refusals. This prevents the MMO and third parties from having timely access to accurate data, weakening both prevention and transparency.

Rate and targeting of catch certificate verifications 

As well as legislative divergence on IUU fishing between the UK and EU, there are also differences in implementation. Under the UK’s IUU Regulation, the UK’s competent authorities – the Port Health Authorities (PHA) and Marine Management Organisation (MMO) – must conduct standard checks on catch certificates. They also have the power to conduct escalated checks called ‘verifications’ to determine catch legality through enquiries with the relevant vessel’s flag state. Imports must be refused if a sufficient response is not received.

Although there is an uneven application of checks and sanctions by EU Member States, it appears that the UK is lagging behind certain EU countries, particularly Spain, which represents best practice in Europe. Low verification rates also tend to lead to a low number of reported refusals of seafood imports, even from high-risk countries.

[1] As per the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), any country has the right to allow a vessel to fly its flag and bestow its nationality upon that vessel. This flag state has overall responsibility for the implementation and enforcement of international maritime regulations for all ships granted the right to fly its flag, regardless of where violations occur. 

Photo by Ibrahim Guetar on Unsplash