Impact

Together with the other indicators under SDG 14, it will form a picture of marine activity giving countries intelligence on optimum levels of fishing, aquaculture expansion and fair and secure access to living aquatic resources.

Key results

Countries have made progress in combating illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, but a more concerted effort is needed to fully address the issue.

Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing threatens the social, economic and environmental sustainability of global fisheries, hindering countries’ abilities to manage their fisheries effectively. Countries’ adoption and implementation of the relevant international instruments is key to curbing IUU fishing. Notably, by the end of 2022, the Agreement on Port State Measures, the first binding international agreement to specifically target IUU fishing and which entered into force in 2016, comprised 74 Parties, including the European Union (which counts as one Party on behalf of its 27 Member States). This means that the Agreement now effectively covers over 100 States.

In addition, during the 2018–2022 period, globally, the degree of implementation of these instruments has risen from 3 to 4 (out of a maximum score of 5), indicating good overall progress, with close to 75 percent of states scoring highly in their degree of implementation of relevant international instruments in 2022 compared to 70 percent in 2018.

Multimedia

Capacity development

Methodology

Tier: I

Data

Related publications

External links