Make piracy history

1. Ports (such as Las Palmas) must refuse to launder pirate fish or service pirate fishing boats – if they can’t land their catch or service their boats then the whole dirty business falls apart.

2. All supermarkets, fish markets and fishmongers need to be able to prove they are not handling stolen goods, by being able to trace the history of the fish they sell. Suppliers who can’t, should not be allowed to sell the fish on to consumers.

3. Fishing boats should be controlled through electronic surveillance and governments must take responsibility for the activities of their boats. The authorities must immediately share information to stop pirate catches getting into the market.

4. Often illegal boats never come into port and instead trans-ship their fish at sea – if this practice was made illegal it would be harder for pirates to move their illegal catches around the globe.

5. Some boats and companies are caught time and again breaking the rules. These boats should be named on a single, publicly available list so all nations are able to refuse them services or prevent them from landing their catches.

6. International aid and assistance should be given to developing nations to protect their rich fishing grounds from the pirate fleets. As fishing grounds in the Northern hemisphere have been fished out, fishing boats have moved further South, into the waters of poorer countries that are not equipped to fully protect their fisheries.


Greenpeace and the Environmental Justice Foundation are working together to expose the pirate fishing fleets that operate without sanction across the globe. Together the international environment and human rights organisations are demanding that governments close ports to ban pirates, deny them access to markets and prosecute companies supporting them.