IUU fishing, working conditions and the Spanish seafood industry - The importance of supply chain due diligence

This report written by the EU IUU coalition in collaboration with ClientEarth aims to illustrate the illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing risks associated with Spain’s seafood trade and inform the Spanish seafood industry of the risks posed by IUU fishing to its supply chains.

In summary, this report highlights that:

• Spain imports large quantities of seafood from countries currently carded under the EU IUU Regulation (as of January 2022). Spanish businesses sourcing seafood from these countries must apply due diligence in order to ensure that no products of IUU fishing are marketed in Spain;
• Large quantities of seafood are also imported from high-risk countries for IUU fishing (according to the IUU Fishing Index). Even if the country is not carded, due diligence must be applied throughout the entire supply chain when importing seafood from these high-risk countries;
• In 2020, over 10,000 tonnes of squid were imported to Spain from China. Global squid fisheries are largely unregulated and there have been numerous reports of illegal fishing by Chinese-flagged, or owned squid jigger vessels;
• Illegal activities, involving a Spanish company, have been uncovered within the Atlantic bluefin tuna trade. Large quantities of Atlantic bluefin tuna are imported into/traded with Spain annually, from both non-EU countries and EU Member States;
• As a valuable commodity, there have been documented cases of mislabelling within the swordfish market. Spain imports large quantities of swordfish from both EU Member States and non-EU countries, and businesses must be aware of the risk posed by seafood mislabelling.