Fisheries play a vital role in global food security, livelihoods, and economic development, particularly in developing countries where the sector contributes significantly to employment, income generation, and export earnings. Fish and fishery products are among the most widely traded food commodities worldwide, and growing global demand for aquatic products continues to underscore the need for sustainable fisheries management and the long-term productivity of marine ecosystems.

However, fisheries resources are increasingly under pressure from overexploitation, environmental degradation, and governance challenges. Among these, Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing remains one of the most serious threats. It undermines conservation and management measures, causes substantial economic losses, distorts fair competition, and adversely affects the livelihoods of legitimate fishers. Furthermore, IUU fishing contributes to the depletion of fish stocks and weakens the effectiveness of fisheries governance at national, regional, and global levels.

Despite these concerns, many ASEAN Member States face challenges in quantifying the full extent and impacts of IUU fishing. Limitations in data availability, fragmented information systems, and inconsistent methodologies make it difficult to produce reliable and comparable estimates. This, in turn, constrains evidence-based policymaking, including the prioritization of interventions, justification of investments in Monitoring, Control, and Surveillance (MCS) systems, and evaluation of enforcement effectiveness.

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