Kiribati’s Tuna Purse Seine Fishery, a Case for Comprehensive Vessel Identity Information

Abstract

Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing presents a major barrier to achieving the sustainable management of fisheries globally. Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs), the principal forum for collaboration between coastal and fishing States, play a key role in addressing IUU fishing. Authorized vessel lists contain information about vessels permitted to fish in RFMO areas and are used to control overfishing. When vessel identity information from these lists is combined with vessel position data, fishing activity can be linked to individual vessels and their owners, enabling the tracking of IUU fishing and informing fisheries management. However, recent scholarship has revealed inaccuracies of vessel identity information provided in RFMO registries (Carmine et al 2020). To demonstrate the value of robust vessel identity information, I manually identified the beneficial owners/corporate actors of fishing vessels in Kiribati’s tuna purse seine fishery in 2020 and connected these companies to fishing activity. I also summarized vessels’ certification status under the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) ecolabeling scheme, as well as links to reported fisheries observer deaths. This enabled the comparison of the behavior of beneficial owners/corporate actors at sea with corporate messaging (communicated via marketing and/or association with the MSC), as well as the examination of potential risk factors for suspicious activity (i.e., the prevalence of vessels owned by nations aside from the flag State, Chinese-flagged vessels, and flags from countries with poor control of corruption) (Selig et al 2022). The results of this project suggest that 145 tuna purse seine vessels conducted ~51,125 fishing hours in Kiribati’s EEZ in 2020, accounting for 8.87% of global tuna purse seine effort in 2020. In ~75% of cases, the registered owner of a vessel did not match the identified beneficial owner or corporate actor. Vessels listed under four unique MSC certificates accounted for 93.77% of 2020 annual fishing effort. Four vessels listed under MSC certificate MSC-F-31362 were linked to apparent fishing in the closed Phoenix Islands Protected Area in 2020. Four vessels listed under MSC certificate MSC-F-31362 were linked to four fisheries observer deaths/disappearances occurring between 2016 and 2020. I recommend that the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) require beneficial owners to be listed as registered owners in the WCPFC Record of Fishing Vessels (RFV), and assess the overall accuracy of vessel ownership information in the RFV. Future studies should investigate the extent of fisheries-related crimes in MSC-certified fisheries, with beneficial ownership information included.