Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing poses grave risk to sustainable management of fish stocks and marine ecosystems with global losses ranging between $10 and $23.5 billion annually.
In 2019, close to 6.3 million tonnes of seafood worth € 27.2 billion was imported from outside Europe.
In 2007, illegal seafood imports into the EU were assessed at barely 5% of total imports (500,000 tons valued at € 1.1 billion).
With diverse supply chains, seafood commerce in each Member State also exhibits horizontal and vertical integration4. Some Member States like Spain, France, Netherlands, Italy, and Germany import larger volumes of seafood than other EU Member States.