February 25, 2013 — INTERPOL, the international criminal investigation body, today launched a special unit to tackle illegal fishing.
The new programme, called ‘Project Scale’, aims to suppress the criminal networks and the ships they run, which by some estimates account for one in every five fish caught every year.
David Higgins, head of the environmental crime programme at INTERPOL, says that there are various indicators to suggest that organized crime is involved in illegal fishing. “It’s like an unlawful business that’s operating. Wherever money is to be made there will be criminals looking to exploit that industry.”
Officially launched today in Lyons, France, and falling under the auspices of INTERPOL’s environmental crime programme, Project Scale is backed by funding from the Pew Charitable Trusts, a charity organization, and will work in tandem with a working group on fisheries crime. The main purpose of the programme will be to collect data on what is a very murky area, and provide a forum where those responsible for enforcing maritime laws across the globe can exchange intelligence.
It is unclear at present exactly how much fishing falls into the overlapping categories of illegal, unreported and unregulated — known in the business as IUU. One widely cited 2009 study puts it at between $10 billion and $23.5 billion and between 11 million and 26 million tonnes of fish.