A Comparative Modeling Study of Potential IUU Fishing off the Coast of West Africa

• In Event: Offender Decision-Making within the Context of Environmental Crimes

Abstract

Prior research on illegal fishing activities has relied on fishing vessels’ flags-of-convenience (FOC) as a proxy measure of likely illegal fishing activities, port landings, and transshipments. Flags of convenience refer to the practice where the beneficial ownership and control of a vessel is not the same as the flag the vessel is flying. While using FOC data may be a good indicator of potential IUU fishing, it is difficult to assess its accuracy in the absence of alternative IUU data. With the creation of the Dark Fleet data by the Global Fishing Watch in 2023, there is now a potentially more direct measure of assessing illegal fishing activity. Dark Fleet data is captured when a fishing vessel turns off its AIS signal and turns it back on, as well as the time spent going ‘dark’. Such actions are believed to be a reflection that the fishing vessel was not abiding by local or regional regulations and laws. This study aims to evaluate which potential IUU fishing data is a better measure and predictor of this activity. To do so, this study uses data from 2017-2019 on micro-spaces off the coast of West Africa to make this assessment.

Authors

• Stephen F. Pires, Florida International University

• Matthew Dylan Spencer, Georgia Southern University

• Gohar A. Petrossian, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

• Emilie Christiansen, Florida International University

• Ulhas Gondhali, John Jay College of Criminal Justice