MAR Fund
A policy tool insuring against Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing
Key Details
Project Lead: ORRAA
Financial Innovation: Apps & Tech
Supporting Partners: Global Fishing Watch, TMT, and Oceana
Financial Support: Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the UK’s Blue Planet Fund
Location: Global
Project Timeline: Ongoing (2021-2026)
Summary
ORRAA, along with our partners Global Fishing Watch and TMT, have developed Vessel Viewer, an innovative technology tool for insurers to help combat IUU fishing. It offers critical information on vessel identity, activities, and authorisations, compiling data from multiple sources to provide insights on a vessel’s risk and likelihood of engaging in or supporting IUU fishing.
By arming underwriters with this information, they can more effectively evaluate their potential risk exposure, identify any gaps and take proactive steps before proceeding with insurance coverage and claims. By cutting off access to insurance, the sector can play a key role in creating a strong financial disincentive against IUU fishing, and protect themselves from legal liability and reputational harm.
Challenge
IUU fishing undercuts effective fisheries management and harms Ocean ecosystems. It is estimated that IUU fishing costs the global economy over USD$20 billion annually, leading to some fish stocks being on the verge of collapse. IUU fishing remains pervasive by taking advantage of the lack of transparency in the fishing industry, using gaps in regulations and patchy monitoring at sea and in port, to operate undetected. With 12% of the world’s population relying on fisheries for their livelihoods, IUU fishing threatens the economic security of millions of small-scale fishers and their communities, as well as legitimate fishers. In addition, IUU fishing is closely associated with labour and human rights abuses.
Solution
Removing access to insurance is one lever that has significant potential to deter IUU fishing globally. Vessel Viewer, a vessel history and insights tool developed by Global Fishing Watch and TMT, helps insurers evaluate the current and past behaviours and characteristics of vessels to estimate their likelihood of engaging in or supporting IUU fishing. This tool can help insurers fill in gaps on the vessels they insure and create greater data transparency and accountability, ensuring only legal fishing activities are supported with insurance coverage.
The initiative was also developed in collaboration with an environmental non-profit, Oceana, which has led parallel work to secure approval of new insurance policy wording with the Lloyd’s Market Association (LMA) that enables insurers to cut off policy coverage to a vessel, its owners or managers, if they are added to an official IUU vessel list.
Scalability and Next Steps
A beta-version of Vessel Viewer was pilot tested with 16 insurance and reinsurance companies taking part to help co-develop the tool with industry insight.
Following its launch in October 2023, additional features such as new vessel data and insights, automated vessel group (portfolio) review and dynamic reporting were released in 2024 and early 2025. The development of these features is also being informed by feedback received during the pilots with insurers.
Vessel Viewer is now available for commercial use by insurers. Its Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are also now available for integration directly into insurers’ internal data tools.
If you are interested in using Vessel Viewer, please contact: paul.whitaker@globalfishingwatch.org
Vessel Viewer provides insurers with data and insights includingthe areas and duration a vessel spends out at sea, access to historical data to monitor vessel behavioural trends and proactively evaluate vessel risks. The tool gives the sector the opportunity to bolster due diligence and make better-informed decisions”. – Matthew Ginman, Underwriting Manager, British Marine
