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Fishing boats are continually operating illegally in coastal communities, stealing fish stocks and affecting the livilihoods of some of the poorest communities in the world.

As fish stocks decline more fishing companies are taking extreme measure to get what they can from the seas, doing whatever it takes to fill their holds. This often means ignoring rules put in place to protect fish stocks and marine ecosystems.

These Pirate vessels operate worldwide and have to be stopped. They take as much fish as they can pull on board and there is no regard for the impacts they have on fish stocks or any other marine species caught or tangled in their fishing gear.

Robbing from the Poor, Stealing from the Planet

Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) or "pirate" fishing is considered by leading experts as one of the most serious threats to the achievement of sustainable fish stocks, with recent studies putting the worldwide value of these illicit catches at up to US$9 billion a year.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has estimated that 75% of the world?s fish stocks are fully or overexploited, pirate fishing represents a serious challenge to effective fisheries conservation and management worldwide. The potential for us to lose the fish we eat within our lifetime is very real; estimates are that at current rates of depletion, most fish stocks around the world will collapse by 2048.

At a time when world fish stocks are under unprecedented pressure, pirate fishing operations are:

- stealing from our seas and oceans

- undermining attempts at sustainable management

- causing massive damage to the marine environment

- jeopardising the food security and livelihoods of poor coastal communities in developing countries.

Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) works to protect the natural world and the people and wildlife that depend on it by linking environmental security, human rights and social need.

Working directly with grassroots organisations in some of the world's poorest countries, EJF empowers those people who suffer most from environmental abuses to find peaceful ways of preventing them.

Support from individuals is vital to our work and is truly appreciated both by EJF and our partners across the developing world - please do all you can to stop pirate fishing by taking the actions under promises and donating to EJF.

On Pirate Fishing EJF works to:

- Press the Spanish Government and European Union to strictly enforce controls on Las Palmas (Canary Islands), a notorious Port of Convenience and major gateway for illegally caught fish on to the EU market.

- Press the European Union to give rapid and comprehensive effect to its 2002 Community Action Plan on IUU fishing. It has now been 5 years since the introduction of this potentially very effective plan, yet to date little has been implemented or achieved

- Secure greater international support for developing countries that need our help to combat illegal fishing in their waters.

- Eliminate Flags of Convenience, which give a perfect cover for IUU activities.

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