FishCRIME 2018 was successfully held 15-16 October 2018 at UN City, Copenhagen, Denmark. The Symposium was attended by over 250 participants from across the globe, generating robust discussion on cooperative action required to address transnational organised fisheries crime.
A Ministers’ Declaration on Transnational Organised Crime in the Global Fishing Industry was adopted by nine Ministers from four continents at the Symposium: Namibia, Kiribati, Indonesia, Ghana, Sri Lanka, Palau, Faroe Islands and Norway (pictured below from left to right) as well as the Solomon Islands. Further Ministers are encouraged to join in support of this non-legally binding declaration.
Large Ocean Nations Forum on Transnational organised Fisheries Crime
The Large Ocean Nations Forum on Transnational Organised Fisheries Crime was launched at the Symposium by Ministers from the Faroe Islands, Kiribati and Palau and representatives from Norway and the Nordic Council of Ministers.
An educational video by PescaDOLUS on Large Ocean Nations underscoring the importance of joint action in a global context towards addressing transnational organised fisheries crime was released at the LON Forum.
Introducing FishCRIME
FishCRIME 2018 is the fourth event in a series of international fisheries crime symposiums initiated in 2015.
The first FishCRIME Symposium was hosted by the South African Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in South Africa in 2015. This Symposium was the first step towards initiating a global dialogue amongst diverse experts, academics, governments and international agencies on the topic of fisheries crime. The momentum of this conversation continued at FishCRIME 2016 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, hosted by the Indonesian Government with a focus on addressing fisheries crime throughout the value chain. During this meeting a joint recommendation was adopted by the symposium. Hosted by UNODC, FishCRIME 2017, drew together high-level participants and international experts to highlight and advance commitment towards tackling the transnational and inter-continental nature of fisheries crime. The fourth FishCRIME Symposium will be held in 2018 at the UN City, Copenhagen, Denmark, and will be co-hosted by the Norwegian Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries and the Nordic Council of Ministers with support by UNODC, INTERPOL, UNDP, the North Atlantic Fisheries Intelligence Group and PescaDOLUS. FishCRIME 2018 will advance efforts towards high level political commitment to cooperatively addressing transnational organised fisheries crime.
The FishCRIME symposiums have become an annual gathering point for international experts, high level government representatives, relevant international governmental organisations and other stakeholders to share experiences and knowledge around cooperative efforts to address transnational organised fisheries crime.
Side Events of FishCRIME
Large Ocean Nations Forum on Transnational Organised Fisheries Crime
In cooperation with the Faroe Islands, the Norwegian Ministry of Trade Industry and Fisheries and the Nordic Council of Ministers PescaDOLUS will host a Large Ocean Nations (LONs) workshop on 15 October at 9am as part of the 2018 FishCRIME symposium at the UN City, Copenhagen. The workshop will highlight challenges of LONs around fisheries crime and will launch a LONs Forum on Transnational Organised Fisheries Crime. In addition to invited speakers and experts, the workshop is open to all symposium participants. A draft agenda will be posted here in the upcoming days. Please note that registration for the Symposium will begin at 8 am and run concurrently throughout the morning enabling registrants to also attend the LON forum.
LE Femmes Network seminar
The first seminar and official launch of the newly formed LE Femmes Network will take place at 9 am on 17 October at UN City, Copenhagen. The Network was established to enhance the role of women in fisheries crime law enforcement.
UNODC-WCO Container Control Programme
The UNODC-WCO Container Control Programme is ideally placed to support the strengthening of international supply chain security by building national border administrations’ capacities to tackle threats related to sea, land and air cargo. Building on its network of more than 80 Port Control and Air Cargo Control Units, covering 50 countries around the globe, the Programme has since 2017 been delivering specialized training on fisheries crime to selected Port Control Units and relevant agencies to target fisheries crime in the containerised trade supply chain. On Tuesday 16 October 12:30-13:15 the Container Control Programme will hold a side-event in room 0.1.11 on the topic ‘Targeting fisheries crime in the containerised trade supply chain.
