A report commissioned by ocean conservation nonprofit Oceana and conducted by the EqualSea Lab at the University of Santiago de Compostela has revealed widespread opacity in the ownership of the world’s large-scale fishing fleets.
The report, titled “Who Really Owns the World’s Large-Scale Fishing Fleet?”, finds that almost two-thirds of industrial fishing vessels – responsible for 60 percent of global marine fisheries landings and receiving over 80 percent of fisheries subsidies – lack publicly available ownership information.
Oceana Senior Policy Advisor Ignacio Fresco Vanzini told SeafoodSource the lack of beneficial ownership information undermines the prevention, accountability, and deterrence of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
“If we don’t go after the profits, IUU will continue to happen. Without knowing who ultimately controls a vessel, authorities cannot enforce sanctions effectively, and these individuals can simply reflag vessels, use shell companies, or create new corporate structures to evade consequences,” he said. “If we cannot follow the money or identify the real actors behind IUU, we allow impunity, and the cycle continues.”
Almost every significant IUU case involves opaque ownership, Vanzini said, which makes it extremely difficult to properly combat.
Vanzini offered the example of Spanish operations years ago that targeted a network of vessels involved in illegal fishing in the Southern Ocean, many of which used complex corporate structures to evade detection and accountability.
“Spanish authorities really struggled to trace the ultimate beneficiaries,” he said, insisting that hidden ownership is not incidental but rather “a deliberate tool to avoid scrutiny.”
Vanzini maintains that hidden ownership undermines accountability by obscuring who should be held responsible for compliance breaches, as well as who is benefiting from fishing activities.
“Getting ownership data would help to track economic flows. This can really distort policy negotiations – when countries are indirectly representing the interests of foreign corporations operating under their flag, national administrations may defend quotas, or policies favor foreign-owned fleets rather than national interests,” he said.
Additionally, without beneficial ownership transparency, it's also impossible to ensure fair representation, compliance, or equitable benefit-sharing in regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs), Vanzini said.
According to the report, E.U. companies own at least 344 vessels larger than 24 meters in length that are flagged to 43 non-E.U. countries fishing outside bloc’s waters. When these are added to the 244 E.U.-flagged long distance fishing vessels, the actual size of the E.U. distant-water fleet becomes 588 vessels, which is 140 percent higher than the officially listed fleet size in 2022.
“These extra 344 vessels are not subject to the same standards as 244 E.U.-flagged vessels and are currently not being controlled or monitored at all by E.U. authorities. This is problematic when vessels are flagged to countries considered ‘flag of convenience’ or countries which have a yellow card by the E.U. for not adopting measures to tackle IUU fishing, such as Senegal or Panama,” Vanzini said. “We believe E.U. countries must develop a registry of investments and ownership in third-country vessels. They should also hold E.U. citizens and companies accountable when they benefit from fishing practices that circumvent E.U. standards, particularly if the flag state fails to act.”
By member nation, Spain, the Netherlands, and Italy own the highest numbers of foreign fishing vessels. Most of these vessels are flagged to countries in Africa (159 vessels) and South America (130 vessels), while 55 are flagged to other countries. The top three flag states with E.U.-owned vessels in their fleet are Argentina, Panama, and the U.K.
The report also notes that more than one in six vessels are legally owned in a country different from their flag state – a tactic used to exploit weak regulatory environments, with Oceana warning that “bad actors” can hide behind shell companies and lenient registries like those of Panama, Belize, and Honduras.
“We consider that 93 of the E.U.-owned vessels in third countries are registered in countries with weak oversight or limited enforcement capacity. This creates a regulatory loophole, where companies benefit from lower compliance costs and less scrutiny. It undermines sustainability, as these vessels may operate in ways that violate conservation measures or labor standards. It also distorts competition, [resulting in disadvantages for] both E.U. fishers operating under stricter rules and local fleets in coastal states,” Vanzini said.
Regarding the obstacles preventing flag states from requiring or disclosing beneficial ownership data during vessel registration, Vanzini said he believes the main problems are the lack of infrastructure involved in collecting ownership data and a lack of political will to do so.
“Many countries do not have a legal framework to collect this information or do not have any company ownership registries at all. Sometimes, data protection rules and certain court rulings also complicate transparency efforts,” he said. “We also have a problem of lack of political willingness: It is difficult to navigate through the company networks, with so many investments from third countries, shell companies, and more.”
While frameworks like the Food and Agriculture Organization’s Global Record of Fishing Vessels and RFMO vessel registers requesting beneficial ownership data exist, few countries are complying and sharing this information.
To compel flag states to disclose beneficial ownership, Oceana is asking for the collection of data at two key points: during vessel registration by flag states and upon acquisition or investment by foreign companies in local fleets, especially under joint ventures.
One tool to effectively collect this information could be the creation of a Joint Venture Registry, the nonprofit suggests.
Vanzini also highlighted that countries can follow the lead of such nations as the Republic of the Seychelles, which became the first member country in the Fisheries Transparency Initiative history to attain “compliant” status, as it has instituted government requirements to ensure public access to information who owns and controls the companies operating in its fisheries sector.
