Using combined data from Automatic Identification System data providing vessel tracks and Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite data depicting light detections at night, Seto and colleagues found that between 2017 and 2020 the number of light-luring squid fishing vessels increased by 68%, with two-thirds of the vessels not broadcasting Automatic Identification System. Squid fishing in the northwest Indian Ocean increased rapidly from 13,000 to 56,000 vessel days during the study period. The fleet spends 86% of their time fishing in unregulated areas, shifting fishing efforts between two or more oceans per year and remaining at sea for three months to one year. Carrier vessels enable long periods at sea, providing fishing fleets with fuel and provisions, and accepting transshipments of catches, enabling vessels to cover more fishing ground in less time. Often these catches are not reported to domestic or international management bodies, nor are they incorporated into estimates of fishing effort, harvest or stock status — resulting in a consistent underestimation of fishing pressure and correspondingly inaccurate estimates of sustainable exploitation.
Seto and colleagues note that understanding the factors that facilitate this increase and expansion of squid fishing effort is critical for addressing the challenges of industrial unregulated fishing. Although some fleets fish close to their port of origin and report their catch, it is likely that unregulated fishing will fill novel areas with new or increased fishing effort. Unregulated fishing in regions directly adjacent to coastal states’ exclusive economic zones and large marine protected areas threaten stocks, livelihoods and regional food security for small-scale and artisan fishers. Governance at multiple scales is needed to address how factors such as subsidies for industrial fisheries, increasing global demand and markets for seafood, customs and quality controls can create enhanced adaptive capacity and good institutional fit in the management of squid fisheries.
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