In an era of overfished fish stocks and substantial excess fishing capacity, illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, especially on the high seas, has been recognized as a major threat to the long term sustainability of the world’s fish stocks. It is widely recognized that a coordinated, concerted and comprehensive approach is required on the part of governments and the international community to ensure sustainable resource use on the high seas and protection of the marine environment.

At both national and international levels, significant work has been undertaken to improve fisheries management regimes and close known loopholes. The past decade in particular has produced a large number of measures aimed at combating IUU fishing, including a number of international legal instruments adopted through the United Nations and its specialized agencies as well as at the regional level through regional fishery management organizations. Despite these measures, IUU fishing has not appeared to have been significantly reduced. Indeed, the prominence of IUU fishing coincides with a significant expansion in high seas fishing capacity in recent years, which has in turn led to an increase in high seas fishery capture rates. As one problem is identified and solved the problem reappears in another form elsewhere. It is evident that flexible operating structures and highly mobile fishing fleets enable IUU operators to move rapidly from areas of depletion to target other fish stocks, a phenomenon which is currently visible in relation to Patagonian toothfish and tuna stocks.

One of the key difficulties has been to ensure political leadership in support of internationally agreed targets and other initiatives similar to those contained in the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation and the 2001 FAO International Plan of Action to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate IUU Fishing (IPOA-IUU). This perception of the problem was recognized by the Ministers and other participants who attended a meeting of the Round Table on Sustainable Development at the OECD held on 6 June 2003. The response of a group of fisheries ministers from Australia, Chile, New Zealand, Namibia and the United Kingdom was to establish a Ministerially-led task force on illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing on the high seas. They decided to work together with international NGOs to develop an action plan designed to combat illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing on the high seas. The Task Force was formally launched on 1 December 2003 by Elliot Morley, M.P., the Minister for Environment of the United Kingdom. Mr Morley made the announcement at the Deep Sea 2003 Conference held in Queenstown, New Zealand.

The goal of the High Seas Task Force was to set priorities among a series of practical proposals for confronting the challenge of IUU fishing on the high seas. The end result was a pragmatic and prioritized action plan that was both analytically sound and politically saleable and would act as a catalyzer. The aim was to put the members of the Task Force in a position where they could state confidently: “We’ve covered the field, there’s nothing left out; we’ve identified the priorities and, what’s more they’re priorities we’re prepared to implement. We invite others to read our analysis and join us.”

The basic methodology was to use a series of expert panels to identify the legal, economic, scientific and enforcement factors which permit IUU activity to thrive and then determine the key points of leverage that could brought to bear at national, regional and global levels in order to minimize the incentives to carry out IUU fishing on the high seas. This work was undertaken by carefully selected specialists within each of the above disciplines.

In conjunction with the ministerial–level approaches, the Task Force’s broad business and NGO membership helped mobilize wider public support for the report’s main findings with a view to generating further momentum for change.

Importantly too, the Task Force presented its report and recommendations to, inter alia, the FAO Committee for Fisheries, as well as relevant bodies of the UN, UNEP, OECD, the IMO and the UN Commission for Sustainable Development and regional fishery management organizations. The purpose of these presentations made with the authoritative support of ministers was to seek agreement on the analysis and to press for the implementation of the action plan in a coordinated manner through the respective mandates of such bodies.

With its strategic-level brief not limited by institutional, disciplinary or national boundaries, the High Seas Task Force provided a unique opportunity to make a concerted attack on a form of organized crime whose exact size is unknown but is believed to be rapidly expanding and which requires a coordinated, concerted and comprehensive approach by governments and the international community to ensure sustainable resource use and protection of the marine environment.