The drive for more transparency in global fishing fleets has been accelerated this year, with several international initiatives pushing for more disclosure.
For instance, announced this summer at the Our Ocean Conference in Kenya, the Mombasa Declaration focuses on better collection and dissemination of vessel information, as well as infrastructure that grants stakeholders better access to fisheries data.
The declaration has been endorsed by such nations as Belgium, Cameroon, Chile, the Dominican Republic, France (on behalf of its overseas territories), Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Republic of the Congo, Somalia, and South Korea.
"The Mombasa Declaration provides a platform for all of us, the different governments, to come together and declare on an international platform that we are working together [and] fighting together for transparency in the fisheries sector," Ghana Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Emelia Arthur said at the conference.
Though the declaration has largely drawn praise, nonprofits including the Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI) and the Coalition for Fisheries Transparency (CFT) have cautioned that the signing of the document is just the first step in a long process toward achieving its objectives.
“We need to ensure that we move from commitments to verifiable and stakeholder-driven implementation,” FiTI Regional Manager for Africa Karine Young said during the conference, explaining that such organizations as FiTI can help signatory nations make good on their pledges. “While acknowledging that the implementation of a standard is inherently more demanding than pledges to principles or political commitments, the added value of frameworks, such as the FiTI Standard, lies in its proven ability to move from commitments to implementation to tangible impact.”
Expanding on that point to SeafoodSource, FiTI CEO Sven Biermann said countries that sign up for FiTI’s program go through a long process, which includes annual reporting.
“We feel it’s important to move past commitments [and] to operationalize transparency,” he said. “The countries in FiTI do all of the work; it’s cumbersome. Political backing is needed. It takes a lot of time, and there is a process.”
To stress the exacting nature and integrity of the program, Biermann pointed out that Bangladesh was delisted from FiTI for not fulfilling the commitments of membership.
Despite the rigorous process, Biermann said Mombasa Declaration signatory nations Ghana and Liberia have partnered with FiTI.
“Ghana came to us and said, ‘We have a lot of data but nothing in the public domain. How can you support us?’” he said, adding that FiTI worked with Ghana to integrate its fisheries information system onto the nation’s fisheries ministry website.
Though Ghana has yet to upload a vessel register, Biermann said “information on various aspects of the country’s fisheries sector including imports and exports and fines [for illegal fishing] are on there.”
Biermann said how data is displayed is almost as important as what’s displayed.
“From 2023 to 2024, we published a study that showed Ghana is not data-deficient. But, it lacked transparency, and that is when national authorities started to understand,” he said. “We develop the fisheries information system to visualize data. We don’t want a government to say it’s committing to transparency and then upload 500 Excel sheets. The data has to be transparent and timely.”
Ryan Orgera, the director of the Coalition for Fisheries Transparency (CFT), told SeafoodSource that the CFT and its network of partners have also started working with signatory governments to advance fisheries transparency reforms outlined in the Mombasa Declaration.
“This includes access to legal and policy tools, technical expertise, and other support aligned with national priorities,” he said.
Orgera explained the measures outlined in the CFT’s Global Charter for Fisheries Transparency are generally low-cost or no-cost “offering a clear roadmap to making vessel and fishing activity information open and accessible.”
Asked if countries like Somalia and Ghana will have the capacity to investigate, track, and collect data required under the Mombasa Declaration, Orgera explained that signatory countries are at wide-ranging stages of capability.
“Some have established seafood traceability programs allowing consumers to better understand the source of their seafood products. Others are in the process of establishing regulations requiring information about vessel owners, sanctions, fishing authorizations, and licenses. Others are just getting started,” he said.
Therefore, Orgera said implementation methodology will vary by country.
“In some cases, governments may choose to strengthen existing laws, policies, or administrative procedures, while others may focus on improving implementation,” he said. “The declaration is intended to support continuous progress toward greater fisheries transparency, recognizing that countries are starting from different legal and institutional contexts. The important part is that there is increasing political will for fisheries transparency.”
Meanwhile, multiple major fishing nations did not sign the Mombasa Declaration, including China and the E.U.
Hang Zhou, an assistant professor at Université Laval in Québec, Canada, said that though China did not sign on, the declaration may still help institute greater transparency among the Chinese fleet due to the fact its distant-water vessels operate off the coasts of signatory nations such as China.
The Mombasa Declaration’s emphasis on beneficial ownership, for example, could be a catalyst for more transparency on the wider extent of Chinese involvement in third countries’ fleets.
“Rather than depending on China or other foreign countries to disclose their companies’ overseas activities, Ghana can require all vessels and companies operating in its fisheries, regardless of nationality, to disclose their ultimate ownership and control,” Zhou said.
Zhou said he believes Chinese authorities would not necessarily be opposed to enhanced transparency infrastructure from countries like Ghana.
“I don’t think China would publicly oppose such measures. Beijing would probably regard them as falling within Ghana’s sovereign authority to regulate its fisheries and could frame them as consistent with efforts to combat IUU fishing,” he said. “Individual Chinese companies – often private ones – and their Ghanaian partners may be less enthusiastic about disclosure, but their commercial interests should be distinguished from the Chinese government’s diplomatic position.”
In Europe, fishing lobbyist group Europêche said the bloc did not sign on for several reasons, including the fact accompanying materials presented with the Mombasa Declaration hinted at alleged illegal activity in Europe’s fleet operating off of Africa.
“While the objectives of the Mombasa Declaration are broadly positive, the accompanying material includes generalized allegations concerning European fishing operations in Senegal,” Europêche said in a statement sent to SeafoodSource. “These references do not reflect the extensive rules and transparency requirements applicable to the E.U. fleet and, therefore, make it difficult for Europêche to formally support the Mombasa Declaration in its current form.”
Additionally, Europêche said the bloc already meets the vast majority of its outlined provisions.
“Europêche welcomes all credible efforts to combat IUU fishing and strengthen transparency,” Europêche said. “Many of the envisaged initiatives in the Mombasa Declaration are already established in E.U. legislation and policies, which provide one of the world’s most advanced frameworks for fisheries control, vessel monitoring, catch traceability, market access, and the regulation of external fishing activities. Greater international convergence toward these standards would help close enforcement gaps and ensure fair competition between fleets.”
A spokesperson for the E.U. Commission told SeafoodSource that efforts the E.U. already carries out include “the tracking of fishing vessels operating in E.U. waters, the publication of fishing licences and authorizations, and the implementation of port state measures to combat IUU fishing.”
“In addition, the E.U. supports capacity‑building initiatives that are aligned with the declaration’s aims, such as the West Africa Sustainable Ocean Program (WASOP) and the Sustainable Western Indian Ocean Program (SWIOP),” the spokesperson said.
