From Hakai Magazine, July 25:
Some countries operate as so-called flag of convenience states, offering ship owners lenient regulations, low taxes, or little legal enforcement. Flag of convenience states’ lax approach to deterring illegal fishing puts the burden on other countries. Agencies such as the United States Coast Guard, Australian Fisheries and Customs, and others can spend vast sums surveilling and inspecting foreign fishing vessels and enforcing international law.
Some countries are hands-off in policing their fishing fleets, forcing other countries to step in. Researchers think shifting the costs back to flag states could force them to reform their laissez-faire attitudes.
It took 21 days before the Australian coast guard could catch up with the Viarsa 1. It was August 2003 and officers from the coast guard’s Southern Supporter had asked to board the Uruguayan-flagged vessel to check that its crew wasn’t fishing for Patagonian toothfish, a protected species. Instead, the crew fled. Heading southward out of Australia’s territorial waters, they covered up to 400 kilometers a day, skirting Antarctica’s dangerous pack ice in a desperate attempt to elude their pursuers. They failed. The Southern Supporter eventually intercepted its quarry off South Africa, towing the Viarsa 1—with almost 150 tonnes of toothfish in its hold—to the port in Fremantle, Australia.
It wasn’t until 2016, however, when authorities in Spain arrested six members of the Vidal Armadores organization, that those ultimately responsible for the illegal fishing activity faced justice. The company was fined US $17.7-million—a figure that sounds substantial, until one considers the $10-million Australian authorities spent hunting down the ship.
How the company eluded repercussions for 13 years owed in part to its deft manipulation of the shipping registry system. According to international law, every ocean-going commercial vessel has to fly the flag of the country in which it is registered. And while the law demands that these nations are responsible for the conduct of their fleets, many countries shirk their duty. These countries, known as flag of convenience states, often have lax rules on fishing oversight, loose regulations, or are uninterested in pursuing illegal actors. These flags of convenience states also operate what’s known as an open register—a legal structure that allows a shell company to be the legal owner of a vessel, even if it has little or no connection to the country in question. By shifting the owner of a ship through multiple shell companies, and paying to register their ship in different countries, unscrupulous criminal organizations can elude punishment. It’s why, earlier in its life, the Viarsa 1 had been flagged to Belize before finally being apprehended under the sun and stripes of Uruguay.
The existence of flag of convenience states and open registers helps to enable illegal fishing. But in a new report, Jessica H. Ford, an expert on illegal fishing at the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, and a team of international colleagues have laid out a scheme that they think could be the key to ending the problem once and for all. At the core of their plan is giving countries a way to recoup at least some of the costs of law enforcement from a ship’s flag state....
....MUCH MORE
- Twenty-First Century Fishing (scams): Tax Havens, Shell Companies
- "China’s Fishing Fleet, the World’s Largest, Drives Beijing’s Global Ambitions"
- Data-Bait: Using Tech to Hook Globe’s Multi-Billion-Dollar Fishing Cheats
- "Why the next big battle may not be fought over treasure or territory—but for fish"
- "Organized Crime Threatens Global Ocean Sustainability"
