Global fishing between jurisdictions with unequal fisheries management

Abstract The demand for seafood is increasing globally and being met, in some cases, by unsustainable fishing practices. When a country fishes outside of its jurisdiction, any negative social environmental impacts associated with are displaced to the fished location may not be compensated. This particularly problematic when jurisdictions poorer, less-effective, fisheries management than itself (henceforth ‘unequal displacement’). Using two different indices national effectiveness, we calculated unequal displacement wild-capture globally. We found that up 23% (19.8 Mt) was unequally annually between 1976–2015, most which caught high seas. During period effectiveness data accurate (2007–2011), almost all 172 countries displace ( n = 123), but few responsible majority (China, India, Japan, Norway, Russia, Republic Korea, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand). Achieving both sustainable food provision ocean health requires improving international trade policies targeted at these encourage reduction displacement.