A fishing boat from the South Australian Sardine Fishery. Sardines are one of the four commodity groups identified as being at the highest risk of containing products caught using IUU fishing practices.
Photo: South Australian Sardine Industry Association.
Australia's Government is committed to minimizing the risk of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) seafood being imported to the country and has therefore announced that it is taking new measures to support current regulations.
"These new actions will strengthen measures already in place to combat IUU fishing – and send a strong signal to importers that IUU seafood is not welcome," said the Australian Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Julie Collins.
According to information provided by the Ministry, in 2023-24, Australia imported 215,000 tons of edible seafood products, valued at AUD 2.3 billion. Meanwhile, worldwide, up to AUD 23.5 billion is lost each year due to IUU fishing, representing approximately 20% of the total global fish catch.
In addition to supporting legitimate seafood suppliers both domestically and overseas, the Australian Government has announced that it will review Australia's import codes and data reporting requirements to enable more comprehensive classification of Australian seafood imports.
Likewise, it will also support the implementation of existing multilateral catch documentation schemes and cooperative international systems used to track seafood products from catch to market.
As mentioned, these newly announced initiatives build on existing measures to combat IUU fishing, including licensing and enforcement, monitoring, control, and surveillance, and regional and multilateral actions.
In its statement, the Australian Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry (DAFF) said that the new measures are the result of extensive consultation with national and international stakeholders across the fisheries supply chain, including consultation on the draft report examining measures to prevent IUU seafood imports into Australia.
In fact, Australia has already taken some steps in this regard, both internationally through bilateral agreements such as those signed with Vietnam and Indonesia, and domestically, with the introduction in July of its new mandatory seafood origin labelling in hospitality and food service venues.
"Illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing practices impact countries across the world, but they have no place in Australia," said Julie Collins. "IUU fishing puts legitimate operators at a disadvantage and threatens marine ecosystems," the Australian Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry continued.
"That's why the Albanese Labor Government is committed to minimising the risk of IUU seafood being imported to Australia," she added.
According to DAFF, although analysis of seafood supply chains in the country shows that most Australian seafood imports were assessed as having a low risk of containing products caught using IUU fishing practices, some higher-risk products were identified. Specifically, the four groups of seafood products with the highest risk are sharks, squid, surimi, and sardines.
The Albanese Labor government said the new measures now announced—the full report is available here—will help to better understand the risks associated with seafood products imported into Australia and whether a seafood traceability program might be appropriate for the country in the future.
"We will continue working with stakeholders across the fishing supply chain to prevent the importation of illegal, unreported and unregulated seafood," Minister Collins concluded.