Dodging the rules: flag of convenience fishing

A country that flags a vessel is responsible for that vessel. Some countries will, for a large fee, give their flag to fishing boats and then turn a blind eye to any violations of international fisheries laws. So to avoid the rules, some fishing vessel owners register with FOC countries such as Honduras, Belize, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Panama, knowing very well that these countries will not control their fleets. These fishing vessels then fish the high seas as if the rules don't apply. They will often use these flags to fish illegally in the waters of other, usually developing, countries that do not have the ability to patrol their offshore waters.

"There was little we could do. These people aren't responsible to anyone. The ships are never seen in Belize. The Belize shipping register is privatised. There should be proper accountability." Manuel Esquivel, former Prime Minister of Belize, saying the country had received many diplomatic complaints about illegal fishing. Source: Sunday Express, UK 4/4/99.

When you consider that some of these lawless fishing vessels are longer than a football field, can drag trawl nets big enough to encircle 12 jumbo jets and carry fishing-finding technology that can find shoals of fish quickly, it's easy to see the devastating impact they can have on ocean ecosystems. Enormous vessels such as these are still rolling out of the shipyards and, not surprisingly, are considered far too powerful to enter today's depleted fisheries. So instead of stopping vessel construction or decommissioning vessels in line with how much fishing our oceans can sustain, fishing companies look for other ways to fish. That's often where flags of convenience enter the picture. <The crew of the Belize-flagged Chien Chun 8 gaff a tuna in ICCAT waters.

Ministers "will develop a global plan of action to deal effectively with all forms of illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing including fishing vessels flying "flags of convenience". "Rome Declaration" of Fisheries Ministers at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, March 1999.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation tells us that there has been a significant increase in the number of large-scale, industrialised fishing that fly "flags of convenience" (FOCs).

Greenpeace reviewed the Top FOC countries in 1999. They are:

1. Belize (404 vessels)
2. Honduras (395 vessels)
3. Panama (214 vessels)
4. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (108 vessels)
5. Equatorial Guinea (56 vessels)
6. Cyprus (45 vessels)
7. Vanuatu (34 vessels)
8. Sierra Leone (27 vessels)
9. Mauritius (22 vessels)
10. Netherlands Antillies (18 vessels)

Belize, Honduras, Panama, and St. Vincent & the Grenadines are by far the worst offenders. Over 1000 of these vessels (approximately 80 per cent) fly the flag of these four countries (though recent reports indicate that Panama is making an effort to clean its vessel registry).

Toothfish being offloaded by a Belize-registered pirate vessel in Port Louis, Mauritius.

Responsibility for flag of convenience fishing also lies with the governments of major fishing countries that fail to regulate companies within their jurisdiction that own and operate FOC registered fishing vessels.

Many of the companies listed as owners on the Lloyd's database are "shell" or "dummy" companies – a common method used to hide the real ownership of these vessels. The Lloyds data identifies 168 vessels flying these flags of convenience as owned by companies based in European Union countries. Taiwanese companies own 169 of these vessels, 52 FOC vessels are owned by South Korean companies and 41 by Japanese companies. Companies based in Singapore (62) and China (37) are also amongst those owning FOC fishing vessels.

More about Pirate Fishing:

Introduction - Modern-day pirates plunder ocean life
Governments recognise the pirate fishing problem...will they act to stop it?
Trouble ahead for pirate fishing talks!

Pirate Fishing in the Southern Ocean:
Introduction
CCAMLR - Governments are failing the toothfish and albatross
Consumers - Retailers begin to move away from toothfish and how you can help
Southern Ocean Ecosystem
Toothfish - Rapidly approaching commercial extinction
Albatross - How pirate fishing is devastating Albatross populations
Southern Ocean Expedition web site, 2000

Pirate Fishing in the Atlantic Ocean:
Atlantic - Pirate fishers plunder Atlantic tuna
Pirates Plunder the Atlantic
Eradicating Pirate Fishing: a study of the current status of tuna and tuna-like fish stocks in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean, May 2000 (pdf file, 91KB)
Atlantic Expedition web site, 2000