Day Against Illegal Fishing

The International Day for the Fight against Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing is held on 5 June. The UN General Assembly created it through resolution 72/72 in December 2017.

The date marks a treaty. The Port State Measures Agreement, adopted by FAO in 2009, entered into force on 5 June 2016. It was the first legally binding international agreement aimed specifically at IUU fishing, and it sets minimum measures that ports can use to stop illegally caught fish from coming ashore.

The problem is large. IUU fishing takes millions of tonnes of fish every year, and an estimated 1 in every 5 fish caught comes from it. Over a third of fish stocks are being overexploited.

There is a hopeful side: 77 per cent of fish consumed globally still comes from sustainable sources. Choices along the chain, from ports to shops to home kitchens, help keep it that way.

As a reader, you can ask where your seafood comes from, buy from sellers who can tell you, and support rules that make catches traceable.

From Waste to Wonder at AVALON Artisan Gallery begins with what the sea leaves behind: more than 50,000 tonnes of green mussel shells are discarded in Thailand each year, and we reclaim them as MyraShell and MyraGem.