Overview
- Delegations at the Our Ocean Conference in Mombasa signed the Mombasa Declaration on Wednesday to coordinate efforts against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, and Global Fishing Watch unveiled a world‑first map to track all classes of fishing vessels.
- The agreement commits signatories to modernise vessel registries, strengthen monitoring of fishing activity, and share vessel and ownership data with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization to improve oversight.
- Belgium, Cameroon, Chile, the Dominican Republic, France, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Somalia, South Korea and the Republic of the Congo were the initial signatories to the declaration.
- Conference speakers tied IUU fishing to plunging catches, threats to food security for coastal communities, and labour abuses on some vessels, saying greater transparency is meant to help hold fleets and owners to account.
- Signatories said they would begin implementing commitments immediately and expect more governments to join before the 2027 Our Ocean Conference, though experts warned that enforcement gaps and concealed ownership will make real-world results hard to achieve.