Japan Anti-IUU Forum Project

Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing poses a serious threat to the sustainable use of marine resources and the conservation of marine ecosystems. It is also often interconnected with labor and human rights abuses in fisheries. Further, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted at the UN General Assembly in 2015, call to “effectively regulate harvesting and end overfishing, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and destructive fishing practices and implement science-based management plans”.

The Anti-IUU Fishing Forum has been working with the Japanese Government to establish measures to stop illicit and non-transparent seafood trade in Japan, a market with great impact on the global elimination of IUU fishing. In 2018, the Japanese government celebrated the most significant reform of its fisheries laws in 70 years, which redefines the fundamental system of fishing regulations and resource assessment with the goal of achieving proper management of fishery resources and the resurgence of the fishing industry. As a result, the Fisheries Agency is charged with designing and implementing a Catch Documentation Scheme (CDS) and Import Control Rules (ICR).

While much progress has been made, it is the effective implementation of regulatory policy, and correspondingly, compliance by the seafood industry, that will determine if Japan is delivering on its global commitments to eliminate IUU fishing. Through this three-year project, the Anti-IUU Forum will continue to support the efforts of the Japanese government to transform its system to eliminate IUU seafood products in the market. Specifically, we wish to ensure the scheme introduced in Japan is effective in eliminating IUU fishing around the world and in preventing the distribution of seafood sourced by IUU fishing in Japan, thereby making Japanese fisheries industries more sustainable and profitable. Further, we wish to engage stakeholders that can positively impact efforts against IUU fishing in Japan to create a movement that eliminates IUU seafood from the Japanese market.