Countries are increasingly using unilateral catch documentation schemes for imported seafood

European Union

In 2008, the EU introduced the world’s first seafood import control scheme—the Catch Certification Scheme—through the adoption of the EU IUU Regulation. It covers all marine fish caught in the wild (with some exemptions) traded by non-EU countries into the EU market.

In January 2026, following the revision of the EU's fisheries control regulation, the data requirements in the EU's catch certificate were expanded. In addition, an IT System for the management of all procedures linked to the EU catch certification scheme was established, "IT CATCH".

CATCH is intended to improve the effectiveness of the EU IUU Regulation’s catch certification scheme by ensuring a centralised digital management environment with the objective to identify and prohibit importation into the EU of seafood caught through IUU fishing.

Use of CATCH will be mandatory for EU Member States and EU Importers from 10th January 2026. Use by non-EU countries will be on a voluntary basis.

United States of America

The US introduced its own import control scheme—the Seafood Import Monitoring Program—in 2016, covering 1,100 species within 13 species groups that were identified as most vulnerable to IUU fishing and seafood fraud.

Unlike the other global import control schemes, SIMP places importers as legally responsible for verifying import information and does not require the submission of catch data  prior to entry, meaning products enter the market before issues are detected.

In November 2024, NOAA Fisheries published an Action Plan to Improve the U.S. Seafood
Import Monitoring Program.

This action plan aimed to expand SIMP traceability requirements to cover all U.S. seafood imports (as opposed to its current coverage of 1,100 species), and contribute to government-wide efforts to address forced labour in the global seafood supply chain, among other planned improvements.

While NOAA Fisheries intends to implement components of the SIMP Action Plan, it is currently unclear which elements of the action plan will be delayed or abandoned.

Japan

In 2022, Japan established a catch documentation scheme based on the EU’s system, prior to its revision. It currently covers seven species/species groups deemed the highest risk for IUU fishing: four imported species groups* and the domestic catch of three others.

* Squid, cuttlefish, pacific saucy, mackerel, and sardines. Squid and cuttlefish are collectively counted as one species group.

Following the first review of the Japanese system in September 2024, blue shark and shortfin mako shark were identified as candidate species for the first round of coverage expansion for imported species.

We encourage Japan to continue expanding species coverage following future reviews.

Republic of Korea

The Korean Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF) adopted a country-level CDS in 2017 targeting three species, namely bobo croaker, longneck croakers and Pacific saury.

Although the scheme still covers only three species, the data requirements were expanded in 2024 to meet the recommendations of the EU IUU Fishing Coalition.

We commend South Korea for its expanded data requirements and now encourage species expansion, particularly for species most vulnerable to IUU fishing, with a risk-based assessment.

United Kingdom

Following the UK's withdrawal from the EU, with a view to stemming the flow of seafood caught through IUU fishing to the UK market, the UK has retained the EU's catch certification scheme (under the UK IUU Regulation). This requires that all seafood consignments falling within the scope of the UK IUU Regulation be accompanied by a catch certificate validated by the flag State of the fishing vessel that caught the fish.

The Coalition for Fisheries Transparency is now calling on the UK Government to expand the data requirements within the UK catch certificate, digitise its catch cerficate scheme and ensure proper implementation of the UK IUU Regulation.

As catch documentation systems continue to emerge globally, it is crucial that they are harmonised and designed for interoperability

There is already a lack of harmonisation in terms of the species coverage and the data required within catch documentation

Many large market states still lack catch documentation schemes to prevent the importation of illegal products

Including Australia

In 2023, the Australian government agreed to “consider a framework that addresses the importation of seafood from fisheries that involve IUU fishing practices.” This took the form of an iterative, multi-stakeholder consultation process led by the nation’s Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry (DAFF). A final report detailing the outcome of the process – and the future of Australia’s seafood import framework – was due to be released in the first half of 2024.

On 11th November 2025, the Australian Government committed to  reviewing tariff code usage and to continue supporting anti-IUU fishing measures, domestically and internationally, but did not commit to a seafood traceability system.

Australian NGOs, fisheries stakeholders and the public are joining the international community in calling on the Government to act now, align Australia with global best practices and close its borders to products linked to IUU fishing.

And Canada

In 2019, the government announced its intention to improve seafood traceability in Canada, then held multi-stakeholder consultations from 2020 to 2021, and established an intergovernmental task force on seafood traceability.

However, these efforts have not resulted in any tangible action towards stronger import requirements.

Canada continues to fall behind, requiring only minimal information on seafood imports entering the market.