Global fishing and seafood trade burdens places with ineffective fisheries management

Seafood is the most traded food commodity globally, but is underpinned by unsustainable fishing practices. When a country obtains seafood from outside its jurisdiction, any negative social and environmental impacts associated with fishing are displaced to the fished location. ‘Unequal displacement’ occurs when seafood is obtained from a place with poorer, less-effective, fisheries management than the country that catches or imports the seafood. We found that up to 22% (19.9 MT) of wild-capture seafood was unequally displaced, much of which is caught in the high seas, Russia, Malaysia, and Angola. Unequal displacement occurs for up to 50% (10.0 MT) of traded seafood. Almost all 172 countires that we assessed unequally displace seafood, but few are responsible for the majority (China, India, Thailand, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Netherlands, UK, USA). Achieving both sustainable food provision and ocean health requires new policies that encourage the reduction of unequal seafood displacement.