Data collection and detection of illegal activity has been a challenge, especially in the vast areas of operation in the Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific. A recent air, sea and electronic surveillance operation OTX015 order over an area of approximately 30 million square kilometers conducted by

the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) and the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) resulted in the boarding of 64% of 320 sighted vessels and 27 (13%) infringements. The operation included the Cook Islands, Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu: regional estimates put lost earnings from activities such as under-reporting or misreporting to as much as over a billion dollars [78]. Under-reporting and misreporting of catches, even by European flagged vessels, [79] remain a significant challenge in the Indian Ocean where more than half of tuna catches are made by small-scale gears [80]. Gillnet fisheries continue to expand rapidly in

the Indian Ocean, some of which use illegal large-scale pelagic driftnets [81]. A report on the global tuna supply chain stated that in June 2010 around 30% of Thailand’s imported tuna had catch certificates to comply with EU fishing regulations designed to exclude IUU fish from the supply chain [82]. However, exports to the EU account for less than 20% of Thai canners׳ learn more total production and Thai industry sources indicated that while “it would be ideal if all imports had EU catch documentation, market outlets still exist for canned tuna using fish supplies that do not have EU-compliant catch certificates,”[83] suggesting that the USA may remain a major market for tuna that does not have catch certificates. The Philippines Flucloronide is the second largest canned tuna exporter in Asia after Thailand. Unlike the Thai tuna industry that largely depends on imports of tuna raw material for its

canneries, the Philippines has a large domestic tuna fishing fleet that supplies most of the raw materials to its canneries. About 50% of landed tuna is consumed locally, and the other half is either exported as sashimi-grade tuna or sent to tuna processing plants [84]. The Philippines increasingly imports significant amounts of tuna from foreign fleets to top up supplies from domestic tuna fishing vessels. A recent report in the Philippine media noted that the declining fish catch in the inshore waters of the country has driven Filipino fishers further offshore, resulting in increased costs, higher safety risks and more difficulty in sourcing high-quality tuna [85]. There is under-reporting of tuna catches from smaller vessels operating in provincial waters and losses from illegal fishing by foreign operators may be as high as 10,000 t each year in the Philippines EEZ [86].