Regional UN meeting on addressing crime in fisheries calls on countries to implement the FiTI Standard
Fisheries are a strategic economic, social and food security asset, supporting livelihoods, economic development and food security across the globe. However, overfishing, habitat destruction, pollution and climate change are threatening fish stocks. These challenges are compounded by vulnerability to corruption and financial crimes which undermine the sustainable management of fisheries resources, distort markets and enable the continued exploitation of already at-risk resources.
In this context, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) organised the Regional conference on addressing corruption and financial crimes in the fisheries sector, held from 7 to 9 July 2026 in Nairobi/Kenya. The conference was organised with the support of the Governments of Norway and Denmark.
The conference brought together more than 50 fisheries authorities, financial intelligence units, anti-corruption bodies, customs, law enforcement, prosecutors, regional organizations, multi-stakeholder platforms, civil society and investigative journalists from Ghana, Kenya, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa and Tanzania, together with international partners such as INTERPOL, the Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG), Open Ownership, the Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI) and other key organisations. The FiTI was represented through its Executive Director, Mr Sven Biermann.
During this 3-day conference, participants emphasised the important role that stronger transparency and accountability frameworks can play to prevent corruption and financial crime across fisheries governance and value chains. However, it was noted that access to fisheries information is still limited in several of the participating countries, including important information regarding licensing, quota allocation, vessel and beneficial ownership, catch and landing data, flagged vessels, etc. This opacity allows corruption and financial crime to go undetected.
During his panel intervention, Mr Biermann highlighted that the complexity of marine fisheries necessitates several approaches for transparency to provoke a profound shift towards better fisheries governance. This requires that greater accessibility of fisheries data needs to serve multiple scientific, management and compliance objectives. He noted that the FiTI Standard – which is the outcome of extensive global discussions among governments, industrial fishing companies, small-scale fishing representatives, intergovernmental organisations and civil society groups – has demonstrated its effectiveness and has become the global default framework for transparency in national marine fisheries management. Notable examples from participating FiTI countries, including Seychelles, Ghana, and Madagascar, demonstrating how enhanced fisheries transparency is leading to improved governance were shared with the conference participants.
Participants welcomed that the FiTI Standard does not only provide a practical tool for governments by defining what information should be published online by national authorities. Through its process framework, the Standard also supports governments in operationalising and sustaining fisheries transparency, e.g. through structured national multi-stakeholder dialogues (often the first formal space for participatory governance in the fisheries sector), regular and in-depth transparency assessments and country validations, as well as continuous improvements through actionable, stakeholder-driven recommendations.
Furthermore, several panellists highlighted how corruption across fisheries licensing, monitoring, trade and regulatory processes facilitates crimes such as tax evasion, money laundering and illicit financial flows, and stressed the importance of transparency, accountability and stronger oversight mechanisms.
The conference concluded with a recommendation to strengthen governance frameworks and reduce corruption vulnerabilities in the fisheries sector by, inter alia, enhancing transparency and public availability of fisheries information by implementing the FiTI Standard!
Source : FiTI
