Food. Income. Nutrition. Economic security.
Fisheries are deeply entwined in the lives of many coastal communities around the world, acting as a vital source of food, employment, tradition, and culture.
Yet crimes in the fisheries sector – including illegal shipments of marine resources; illegal fishing; corruption; money laundering; document, tax and customs fraud, and more – threaten these communities’ very well-being and way of life.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime’s (UNODC) Blue Enforcement Project aims to support the national maritime law enforcement response to crimes in the fisheries sector in the Maldives and Sri Lanka, two Small Island Developing States (SIDS) whose economies rely heavily on fisheries.
Ahead of the 4th International Conference on SIDS (SIDS4) in Antigua and Barbuda from 27-30 May, UNODC sat down with Zoona Ahmed, a Superintendent in the Maldives Custom Service and participant in the Blue Enforcement Project, to discuss preventing crime and corruption in the fisheries sector.
A: We have two primary economic activities in the Maldives, namely tourism and fisheries. You could say that fisheries are the lifeblood of the Maldives.
But it’s not just about food. The health of our fisheries is linked to the environment, the economy – everything.
A: A lot of fishing in the Maldives is artisanal and therefore very vulnerable to all of these crimes, including at the transnational level. My father is a fisherman, actually. And when I started studying maritime law and policy, I began wondering to myself – what if my father is not aware of all these legal frameworks? What could happen to him and other fishers if they don’t know their rights? They, as well as commercial fishers, would be vulnerable to all of these crimes at sea.
Corruption worsens any crimes being introduced in the fisheries sector. It detracts foreign investment and therefore the economy, as fisheries are so economically important to SIDS.
A: We don’t come together that often. But the Blue Enforcement project allowed all the border management agencies to meet in one room and discuss crimes in the fisheries sector. On a personal level, I now have contacts in other institutions with whom I can easily communicate about work. Secondly, the project included capacity building on risk management, assessment, and profiling, which was very useful, and explained to other agencies how customs help mitigate crimes by targeting export and imports when dealing with high volumes of trade.
A: We saw the enhanced cooperation at work last year in a shark fin case, when the Aviation Security Command, which is part of our Border Agency, shared results from its information analysis tool with the Customs Service. Before, the Command would not have shared this analysis with the Customs Service, even though we are the agency responsible for administration and prosecution.
A: In the Maldives, we have recently updated our fisheries regulations. However, there is still an enforcement gap and we need to clarify who does the investigation, who takes action in the civil procedure, etc.
Next, though it has improved, we can still enhance our information sharing. The Coast Guard and the defence administration are the main people doing the surveillance to prevent illegal fishing and crimes in the sector. But Customs only gets this information upon request. Getting this information in a timely manner, in contrast, would go a long way in deterring corruption.
Finally, we do not employ robust risk management on the export side; we need to improve and develop our scanning facilities here.
Funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries under the Blue Justice initiative, UNODC’s Blue Enforcement project responds to the need to cooperate and build capacity to address transnational organized crime in the fisheries industry in the Maldives and Sri Lanka. Learn more here.
At SIDS 4, on 28 May, UNODC participated in a side event on "Leveraging UNCLOS and the BBNJ Agreement in support of resilient prosperity in SIDS".
After nearly 20 years of work, the Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement) was adopted on 19 June 2023 and opened for signature on 20 September 2023. Three SIDS, Palau, Belize and Seychelles, have become parties to the Agreement.
During the side-event, UNODC discussed the enforcement challenges that may arise with regard to the Agreement and the assistance available to States in addressing those challenges. UNODC emphasized that the successful implementation and enforcement of the Agreement requires the involvement of SIDS with robust maritime law enforcement and maritime domain awareness capabilities, necessitating a unified approach that integrates collaborative partnerships, innovation, and capacity-building initiatives.
Click here for more information on UNODC’s Global Maritime Crime Programme.
