Whose boat is this? Launching our Second UK Report in Westminster

On 30 June 2026, the Coalition for Fisheries Transparency (CFT) launched its second UK report, Whose boat is this? Ultimate Beneficial Ownership in UK fishing, at a parliamentary roundtable in Westminster. The event, chaired by Lloyd Hatton MP, brought together parliamentarians and experts to address the key reforms required to identify who is really profiting from illegal fishing activity.

The report’s findings bring to light a worrying reality: the UK has currently no effective system to publicly identify who ultimately owns or profits from commercial fishing vessels under its jurisdiction. This creates a gap that allows dodgy operators engaged in illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing to operate without scrutiny.

The roundtable was attended by panelists Barry Gardiner MP, Kyle Lischak of ClientEarth, Margot Mollat of Transparency International UK, and Lawrence Marzout of the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, who discussed the implementation of Principle 3 of the Global Charter for Fisheries Transparency and how greater transparency can strengthen accountability, deter environmental crime, and support sustainable fisheries management.

This launch marks an important milestone for CFT’s UK advocacy, highlighting the need to strengthen the enforcement of company disclosure requirements and restrict access to UK waters for commercial vessels with opaque ownership so as to close loopholes allowing anonymity to persist. We thank the APPG for Anti-Corruption and Responsible Tax and APPG on International Conservation for sponsoring the event and look forward to working with policymakers to strengthen the UK’s framework on vessel ownership to protect both people and oceans.