The Wildlife Justice Commission (WJC) took part in the Third United Nations Ocean Conference, held in Nice from 9 to 13 June 2025. With over 60 Heads of State and Government and 15,000 participants in attendance, the UN Ocean Conference served as a pivotal platform for the WJC to draw global attention to a critical yet often overlooked threat: the trafficking of endangered and vulnerable marine species. At the WJC, we work to protect marine biodiversity by exposing the criminal networks behind this illegal trade—networks that are pushing species toward extinction, disrupting fragile marine ecosystems, and hindering ocean health and climate resilience.
Despite their scale and impact, these crimes remain weakly enforced in domestic legislation and overlooked in global ocean governance. To bring this issue to the forefront of the ocean agenda, the WJC called for stronger law enforcement and synergies between ocean governance and criminal justice approaches.
Our investigations show that targeting the land-based elements of trafficking networks—and the high-level criminals behind them – is essential to dismantle these networks, protect marine life, and achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14 (Life Below Water). By directly engaging with policymakers, we push for practical, evidence-based solutions to effectively close legal and implementation gaps in addressing these crimes. At this Conference, we submitted a written statement urging States to strengthen law enforcement and international cooperation efforts, and adopt a holistic approach to these crimes by leveraging interlinkages between ocean, biodiversity, climate change, transparency and anti-corruption efforts and criminal law.
Sharing best practices and lessons learned on tackling crimes in the fisheries sector
On Monday, 9 June, the WJC co-hosted a high-level roundtable with the International Conservation Caucus Foundation UK (ICCF UK), the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), titled “Species at Risk and Rising Crimes in the Fisheries Sector: Confronting Threats on Land and Sea”.
The discussion was chaired by the Hon. Barry Gardiner, Member of Parliament (United Kingdom) and Chair of the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on International Conservation, and featured powerful interventions from other UK Members of Parliament, legislators from Indonesia, Saint Lucia and Grenada, and other key experts. Supporting a coordinated and comprehensive global response to these crimes, the discussion highlighted growing links between crimes in the fisheries sector—including Illegal Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing and the trafficking of vulnerable marine species—and transnational organised crime, while also incorporating field-based insights from participants on challenges and best practices at both local and global levels.
Key issues included weak enforcement, associated corruption, links to other serious crimes such as drug and human trafficking, disparities in domestic legal frameworks including weak penalties and lack of enforcement resources, and the heavy toll on coastal communities. The discussion stressed the need for stronger enforcement, transparency, use of technology, international and cross-sectoral cooperation, and law enforcement support to effectively combat crimes in the fisheries sector.
The WJC shared findings from investigations into marine species trafficking, showing how intelligence-led, focusing on transnational organised crime elements, especially those on-land—can significantly disrupt marine trafficking and give endangered species a chance to recover.
Following the roundtable, the WJC, with UNODC, ICCF UK, and EJF, issued a joint statement, “Confronting Crime to Protect Our Ocean”, proposing actionable solutions to ensure that crimes in the fisheries sector are effectively tackled and prioritised in global ocean policy.
Achieving Life Below Water through justice and strong institutions
The WJC co-organised and participated in a high-level side event hosted by UNODC and INTERPOL on “Achieving SDG14 through SDG16: The Role of Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement in Ocean Governance and Protection”, with support and interventions from the Governments of Angola and Fiji, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Secretary General, the Food and Agriculture Organizations (FAO) of the United Nations, the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), and Allen Institute for AI (Ai2).
Our Executive Director, Olivia Swaak-Goldman, highlighted the urgent need to adopt a criminal law approach to marine species trafficking and showcased WJC’s operational successes as a model to change the risk dynamic of this crime.
Key recommendations to advance global action against these crimes within the ocean agenda
Throughout the week, the WJC encouraged States and other key stakeholders to take action on the following recommendations:
- Incorporating a criminal justice approach to tackle crimes affecting the ocean as part of the ocean agenda;
- Applying a criminal law approach by fully implementing the existing international legal frameworks, in particular the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) and the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC), to strengthen law enforcement efforts in effectively combatting these crimes and associated corruption;
- Taking coordinated action to facilitate international cooperation and prevent crime displacement to territories with weaker laws or enforcement by harmonising and strengthening international and domestic legislation, including stronger penalties for high-level offenders;
- Providing capacity-building support to law enforcement agencies to effectively investigate, prosecute, and deter marine species trafficking;
- Explicitly fostering and promoting successful cross-sector collaborations such as Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), involving all relevant stakeholders along the fisheries supply chain – including law enforcement agencies, Civil Society Organisations, local communities and the private sector
- Adopting a holistic approach to combatting these crimes by leveraging interlinkages between ocean, biodiversity, climate change, transparency and criminal law, as part of achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. As such, we call on States to promote synergies with the Nice Ocean Action Plan, the UNCAC, UNTOC, CITES, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the Kunming-Montreal Biodiversity Framework.
Looking ahead
On the final day of the UN Ocean Conference, more than 170 States adopted by consensus the political declaration “Our Ocean, Our Future: United for Urgent Action”, also referred to as the Nice Ocean Action Plan, reaffirming their commitment to the conservation and sustainable use of the ocean, seas, and marine resources in line with SDG14. While the declaration contains commendable pledges, it falls short in recognising and addressing the criminal threats to our ocean—particularly the trafficking of marine species.
Combatting this form of transnational organised crime is essential to safeguarding marine biodiversity and ecosystems. Strengthening international cooperation and integrating criminal justice approaches into ocean governance are critical to dismantling the networks driving this illicit trade.
The WJC remains committed to raising awareness, fostering political will, and supporting States and stakeholders in developing a coordinated, global response to these threats. Only through collective action can we ensure a healthy, resilient ocean for current and future generations.
