Moreover, the total extractions of living resources from marine ecosystems are needed in order to understand the sustainability of fisheries both in terms of ecology and economics since catches reported to national and international agencies (FAO) exclude IUU, discards and often small-scale and recreational fishery catches [2]. Recent estimates of IUU extent by country and region have revealed substantial IUU world wide between 13% and 31% of reported catches, and over 50% in some regions. This illegal catch is valued at between $10 and $23.5 billion per year [3]. The 1995 FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries [4] and the 1992 UN Agenda 21 (chapter 17) initiated an international framework for addressing

this problem, recently termed ‘fishery crime’ [5]. Attempts at control Protease Inhibitor Library mouse have focused on fishery management through improving Monitoring, Control, and Surveillance (MCS), through a UN Port State agreement to restrict chandler support for suspect vessels [6], and by national and Interpol tracking of suspicious

vessels including transshipment at free ports. These activities have substantially improved 3-deazaneplanocin A cell line the prospects for addressing IUU fishing and associated crimes, but significant profits are still being made from illegal fishing. Fishery markets, increasingly global, and, despite increasing use of chain of custody documentations [7], notoriously opaque at the distribution level, provide another opportunity to reduce profits from illegal fishing by isolating trade. Therefore there is a growing need to understand not only where

IUU fishing takes place but also where and how illegal products ultimately enter the markets. In this NADPH-cytochrome-c2 reductase paper, we investigate one key dimension of the global IUU problem by estimating the amount of illegal and unreported fish entering the US seafood market, one of the largest in the world. Any major destination market for illegal seafood will thus be a major source of revenue for illegal fishing. This study is limited to estimating the percentage and approximate amounts and values of illegal and unreported products entering the United States as imports. It does not include products that may originate in “unregulated” fisheries. As with previous studies, although “unregulated” fishing remains a significant obstacle to sustainable livelihoods, this paper does not cover the full gamut of IUU fishing, but is restricted to “illegal and unreported” (IU) or more simply “illegal” fishing, since unreported fishing is technically illegal because reporting is mandatory for all UNFAO countries. Second, this work does not include domestic products landed by USA flag vessels and processed and sold entirely in the United States. It is possible that it may include some products that, after originating with USA vessels and even possibly landed in the USA, have been exported for processing in other countries and then re-imported into the USA.