The first webinar of this series, Red flags along the value chain: Fishing authorisations and landing documentation, will have a look at how corruption can occur in the process of obtaining the rights to fish and the landing of catches at port (or trans-shipping at sea).

Beneficial ownership has already been a subject of international attention, and the fisheries sector is slowly catching up. The secrecy around who ultimately owns or controls a business is linked to a range of policy concerns, perhaps most notably in terms of the fight against illegal fishing and corruption, but also exposing the extent of economic concentration and foreign ownership in the sector, increasing global attention.

Strengthening transparency is often seen as an effective and pragmatic tool to tackle corruption in fisheries. However, even with a greater public interest in the fisheries sector, basic information still often remains out of the public domain, diminishing the prospect of effective oversight and accountability.