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Ultimate Beneficial Ownership: Why Transparency Is Vital for Effective Fisheries Governance
- Published
Accountability begins with knowing who owns and controls fishing vessels
The commercial fishing industry generates $141 billion each year, but determining who benefits from these activities is often hindered by opaque ownership structures. This lack of transparency can lead to illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing — serving as a detriment to economies, ecosystems and the well-being of coastal communities.
What is ultimate beneficial ownership?
Ultimate beneficial owners (UBOs) are the people who ultimately control or profit from a vessel’s activities, often operating behind one or more corporate entities, even if they are not listed as the legal or registered owner. In fisheries, ownership can be complex, making accountability difficult. This complexity is reflected in the following ways:
- Vessels can be owned by residents of one State, flagged to another and operating in the waters of a third.
- Licenses are not always tied to a specific vessel and can be sub-licensed to third parties operating under them.
- A complex web of jurisdictions means operators, owners and crew can be spread across multiple countries and pass through States that help conceal the true ownership and financial control of a vessel.
Why ultimate beneficial ownership matters in fisheries management
Collecting and sharing data on UBOs is crucial, not only for fighting IUU fishing and improving ocean governance, but also for understanding who ultimately controls fishing capacity, how access rights are allocated, and how fisheries management systems influence ownership concentration and accountability across the sector.
IUU fishing is often organized at an industrial scale and driven mainly by profit. While vessel masters and crew are the most visible actors subject to scrutiny and sanctions for IUU fishing, those who actually profit from such activities may hide behind layers of obscure corporate structures to escape sanctions and fines.
Shedding light on who ultimately controls and profits from fishing activities — beyond the crews or registered owners — helps ensure that those responsible for making decisions about a vessel are held accountable.
Transparency of UBO is already widely adopted in other sectors — such as extractive industries like oil, gas and mining — as an effective tool to combat corruption and illicit financial flows. Applying the same principles in fisheries would:
- Make it harder for offenders to evade sanctions.
- Strengthen risk-based fishing licensing and authorization decisions.
- Identify individuals or groups of individuals orchestrating illegal activities.
- Help prevent market concentration through hidden control of multiple fishing quotas through different companies and vessels.
Collecting and sharing UBO information — in line with applicable data protection and confidentiality rules — helps close the loopholes that allow illegal operators to hide behind
complex corporate structures and continue operating across jurisdictions.
Key Indicators of Undisclosed Ultimate Beneficial Ownership
- The use of opacity-enabling corporate structures such as shell companies, joint ventures, front companies or offshore entities.
- Complex ownership and control arrangements like joint ventures and layered shareholding.
- Behavioral risk signals, including frequent flag changes and reregistration of vessels.
Actions to Take
Strengthen policy: Require the collection and publication of UBO data as a condition for vessel registration and licensing, while ensuring confidentiality rules are not misused to shield unscrupulous operators. Ensure data is robust enough for automated systems and vessel-level analyses.
Mandate transparency and interoperability of UBO data: Make UBO data publicly available through national, regional and global databases, including the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Global Record and ensure it is collected in interoperable formats.
Enhance international cooperation: Build capacity through international cooperation and knowledge sharing. Promote UBO transparency through international forums and build capacity for UBO data use with support from regional fisheries management organizations and the FAO.
Let’s ensure governments can collect, publish and use UBO data to strengthen licensing, monitoring and enforcement.
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Director of International Policy, Global Programs
