On the Hook
USAID partners with local communities, governments, and the private sector to address the impacts of IUU fishing overseas and on U.S. markets, including efforts to strengthen governance, enhance enforcement, and promote transparency and traceability.
Here are five examples of our work happening around the world.
1. Establishing the First Indigenous Women-Managed Marine Conservation Area in the Philippines
In the Philippines, the government estimates that IUU fishing costs the country’s economy up to $1.3 billion annually—a loss equivalent to up to 40% of the total value of the country’s fishing industry.
USAID helped establish the Calauit Women-Managed Area, training Maricar (center) and other Tagbanua women on natural resource management, entrepreneurship, and environmental protection. Photo Credit: Emil Meron for USAID
USAID is working to change that. In Palawan, the Agency helped establish the Calauit Women-Managed Area—the country’s first such area managed by Indigenous women—to train Tagbanua women in conserving marine resources and ensuring a sustainable source of food and livelihoods for future generations. Better management has led to a decrease in illegal fishing in the area and a nearly 60% increase in the average size of the cachipay oyster population—an important source of food and income for the Tagbanua people—in the waters surrounding Calauit.
The Calauit Women-Managed Area is just one of nine such areas that USAID has helped establish in the Philippines. Since 2018, USAID has helped protect over 2.58 million hectares of oceans in the Philippines, an area about as big as Lake Erie. Learn more about USAID's IUU fishing programs in the Philippines here.
2. Recovering Ghana’s Small Pelagic Fisheries
Since 2014, USAID has worked with the Government of Ghana, the private sector, and fishing communities to recover the country’s small pelagic fisheries—sardines, mackerel, and anchovies—by reducing illegal fishing and improving regulations to support their ecological recovery.
Over the last two years, USAID has supported the Government of Ghana in its efforts to update safety and sustainability requirements for industrial vessels–specifically regulating the fishing gear used by industrial trawl vessels to eliminate the illegal catch of small pelagic fish. To support these efforts, USAID is helping Ghana implement the national transparency commitment towards 100% electronic monitoring on all industrial fishing vessels by 2025, a requirement that may also help to counter labor abuse, which has been documented on these vessels.
Currently, the country has licensed 43 industrial trawl vessels out of approximately 80 allowed to receive licenses as per the country’s current fisheries management plan, which represent those vessels complying with the new safety and gear regulations. By September 2024 all these licensed vessels will be equipped with electronic systems to monitor compliance with the gear and other legal requirements, such as the ban on transshipment, and provide the basis for enforcement actions.
Fishermen fixing their nets in anticipation of the end of the closed season. Photo Credit: USAID
In addition, Ghana was able to effectively work with the small-scale fishing associations to gain support for a three-year moratorium on new canoes, an important but difficult management measure for recovering the country’s small pelagic fisheries.
USAID and Ghana are also collaborating with neighboring countries to expand the country’s successful temporary fishery closure during spawning that helps regenerate small pelagic fish stocks. To date, Cote d’Ivoire, Togo, and Benin have committed to implementing the closed season.
3. Increasing Formalization of Artisanal Fishing Fleets in Peru and Ecuador
USAID, together with the Walton Family Foundation and nine other environmental non-government organizations, is working to reduce IUU fishing by up to 30% in four important artisanal fisheries that are home to jumbo flying squid, mahi-mahi, tuna, and octopus.
A woman from Paita, Peru participates in the process of fileting mahi mahi. Photo Credit: Yawar Films / WWF Perú
The partnership is working with the Governments of Peru and Ecuador to help artisanal fleets gain institutional recognition, access fishing rights, and operate in the formal economy. Formalization can help fishers gain broader access to export markets and move fisheries toward greater sustainability. In just a year and a half (October 2021- March 2024), 37% of the targeted 1,000 fishing vessels that applied in Peru have been issued licenses.
4. Strengthening Policies to Support Fisheries Management in Senegal
One sixth of Senegal’s population relies on fisheries for their livelihood, yet the sector faces challenges posed by poor management practices and increased domestic and international demand for fish. USAID’s Dekkal Geej project (2019-2023) connected local fishers, the Senegalese government, and the private sector to strengthen sustainable fisheries management, conserve biodiversity, and improve food security and livelihoods.
USAID’s Dekkal Geej project connected local fishers, the Senegalese government, and the private sector to improve food security, increase incomes, and strengthen resilience through education. Photo Credit: Gabe Gentry
This included supporting the formulation and implementation of 95 policies and regulations to promote sustainable fisheries management, exceeding targets by 44%. The project also assisted nearly 600 government personnel—including members of monitoring patrol units—in applying improved law enforcement practices and supported over 53,000 individuals to apply improved sustainable fisheries management practices and technologies.
5. Empowering Small-Scale Fishers to Report IUU Fishing in the Indo-Pacific
Across the Indo-Pacific, IUU fishing contributes to declining fish stocks and threatens the livelihoods of legal fishers who follow the rules and commit to sustainable practices. To empower these local leaders to protect their incomes and support their communities, USAID is developing a handbook on reporting IUU fishing to guide actions by small-scale fishers who witness crimes when out on the water.
Women fish traders at a local fish market in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi, Philippines. Photo: USAID
The handbook was finalized with input from non-government organizations, regional associations, national governments, and the private sector at a regional exchange in January 2024—leading to the inclusion of a list of local and regional organizations that fishers can reach out to help them report IUU fishing and other crimes. Field testing is slated to begin in the Philippines in June 2024, and in Thailand and Indonesia in August 2024.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jessica Bach is a Communications and Knowledge Management Associate with the Advancing Capacity for the Environment Program.
This blog was originally posted on medium.com.
