Molecular Technologies can be used to fight IUU fishing and mislabelling by supporting traceability along the supply chain. Fish product mislabelling is used either to launder IUU fish into the legitimate marketplace or simply to defraud the industry and consumer in order to obtain a higher sale price. Mislabelling is also of growing concern to certification schemes (‘eco-labelling’) that rely on credible species and origin identification to support consumer demand for ‘sustainable’ products. False labelling, even of legally caught fish, destroys confidence in systems designed to reduce IUU fishing.

Methods for identifying fish and fish products are needed to support legislation and routine audits within the industry to act as enforcement tools for prosecuting illegal activities. The key requirement of any identification system in the fisheries sector is to answer three fundamental questions regarding a sample: What species is it? Where was it caught? and, in light of globally increasing aquaculture production: Is it of wild or farmed origin?.

 

The three principal questions of a traceability framework for fish and fish products: a) What species is it? b) Where was it caught? c) Is it of wild or farmed origin?

Each of these questions can be addressed using novel molecular methods developed for fisheries research. For example DNA-based identification techniques, particularly when forensic standards are applied, can provide valuable support to monitoring, but also to targeted investigations for prosecution purposes.

The Fisheries and Aquaculture team of the Joint Research Centre is actively pursuing the integration of genetics, genomics, chemistry and forensics to improve existing fisheries control and enforcement frameworks as well as traceability schemes. To this end it initiated a variety of projects, participates in international research endeavours, such as the FP7 project FishPopTrace and engages with national and international stakeholders, such as the FAO. It also published the JRC Reference Report "Deterring Illegal Activities in the Fisheries Sector" (2011).