NAIROBI, Kenya, June 17-Fifteen countries have committed to expand fisheries data transparency and strengthen enforcement against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, a practice estimated to cost the global economy up to $50 billion (Sh 7.7 trillion)annually.
The agreement, reached at the 11th Our Ocean Conference in Mombasa, focuses on closing long-standing gaps in vessel tracking, ownership disclosure and licensing systems that have made illegal fishing difficult to detect and prosecute.
The signatories include Belgium, Cameroon, Chile, Dominican Republic, France, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Republic of the Congo, Somalia and South Korea.
Under the framework, countries are expected to modernize vessel registries, publish fishing authorizations and improve cross-border data sharing to strengthen monitoring and enforcement across fisheries value chains.
“There is growing recognition that a productive and sustainable blue economy depends on strong ocean governance, effective monitoring, and accessible data,” said Maisie Pigeon, director of the Coalition for Fisheries Transparency.
“The countries signing the Mombasa Declaration today represent a diverse range of economies and geographies, demonstrating that momentum for transparency at sea is truly global. We look forward to working with these countries and others to advance meaningful fisheries reforms.”
Environmental experts at the conference say weak transparency systems have enabled illegal operators to obscure vessel ownership and evade enforcement, contributing to stock depletion and undermining legal fishing communities.
“Transparency is how we expose abuses, support coastal communities, and rebuild trust that fisheries can be managed sustainably and fairly. I applaud the leadership of every state endorsing the Mombasa Declaration today, and urge others to follow,” said Steve Trent, CEO and Founder of the Environmental Justice Foundation.
The declaration will guide policy reforms ahead of the next Our Ocean Conference in 2027, with attention now shifting to how quickly countries translate commitments into enforceable transparency laws and operational data systems.
