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Who owns reefer vessels? Uncovering the ecosystem of transshipment in fisheries
Stockholm University, Faculty of Science, Stockholm Resilience Centre.ORCID iD: 0000-0003-4955-9625
Stockholm University, Faculty of Science, Stockholm Resilience Centre. Stanford University, Stanford, USA.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-4105-6372
Stockholm University, Faculty of Science, Stockholm Resilience Centre.
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Number of Authors: 82024 (English)In: Science Advances, E-ISSN 2375-2548, Vol. 10, no 41, article id eadn3874Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

A central barrier to effective governance and accountability in fisheries is the limited transparency of corporate ownership. Transshipment—the transfer of catches, fuel, parts, or crew between fishing and cargo vessels known as reefers—is often criticized for its opacity and poor governance. Better insight into the beneficial ownership of vessels involved in transshipment and their operational patterns could lead to more effective management. Our study presents a publicly accessible database of reefers’ owners, operators, and flags. We identified 569 individual reefers and found that Russian and Chinese owners control 26 and 20% of the global reefer fleet, respectively. Results also show that 65% of all reefer vessels fly the flags of Russia, Panama, or China. This high level of consolidation suggests considerable leverage for enhancing transparency and governance. Our findings highlight the potential for reforming existing transshipment practices through collaboration among owners, flag states, fishery regulators, and scientists.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2024. Vol. 10, no 41, article id eadn3874
National Category
Transport Systems and Logistics Business Administration
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:su:diva-237202DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adn3874ISI: 001354405400001PubMedID: 39392891Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85206123413OAI: oai:DiVA.org:su-237202DiVA, id: diva2:1921739
Available from: 2024-12-17 Created: 2024-12-17 Last updated: 2025-06-24Bibliographically approved
In thesis
1. Charting for Change: Collective Action for Sustainable Industrial Fisheries
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Charting for Change: Collective Action for Sustainable Industrial Fisheries
2025 (English)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

Managing industrial fisheries presents a persistent and complex sustainability challenge. Despite the establishment of comprehensive regulatory frameworks, international agreements, and voluntary certification schemes, fisheries worldwide continue to face overfishing, illegal practices, weak governance, and contribute to habitat degradation. Rather than discrete or isolated problems, industrial fisheries are better conceptualised as nested collective action dilemmas, in which environmental externalities emerge from decisions made by diverse actors operating across multiple governance levels. Actions taken by individual fishers, firms, or governance institutions often produce cascading effects that cross spatial and institutional boundaries, further complicated by the mobility of marine species and the transboundary nature of marine ecosystems. This thesis explores how voluntary collective action, inspired by stewardship aspirations, can contribute to more sustainable fisheries governance. Comprising four papers grounded in social-ecological systems thinking, it examines diverse efforts to coordinate sustainability commitments among industry actors. Paper I traces the evolution of seafood stewardship over the past five decades and identifies four dimensions that enable collective action: moving beyond compliance, adopting systems perspectives, embracing uncertainty, and recognising the embeddedness of humans in the biosphere. Paper II investigates pre-competitive collaborations as voluntary sustainability initiatives, focusing on their design and regulatory fit, but also their frequent lack of enforcement and systematic evaluation. Paper III employs process tracing in the Barents Sea cod fishery to examine how critical events shaped and were shaped by social relationships in the development and institutionalisation of collective action. It highlights the role of Interaction Rituals and trust-building in influencing governance outcomes. Paper IV addresses the governance of transshipment, a contested practice often linked to illegal fishing, by mapping the ownership of refrigerated cargo vessels. It argues that a nested governance approach, combining formal regulation with voluntary initiatives, provides new and innovative ways of governing this practice. Together, these papers suggest that voluntary collective action can effectively complement state-led governance when underpinned by trust, transparency, and accountability. Due to the complexity of industrial fisheries, achieving sustainability will require hybrid governance structures that combine stewardship-focused cooperation with strong regulatory institutions.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Stockholm: Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, 2025. p. 73
Keywords
Fisheries, sustainability, social-ecological systems, collective action
National Category
Environmental Sciences
Research subject
Sustainability Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:su:diva-244350 (URN)978-91-8107-318-8 (ISBN)978-91-8107-319-5 (ISBN)
Public defence
2025-09-16, Hörsal 2, Hus 2, Campus Albano, Albanovägen 18 and online via Zoom, public link is available at the department website, Stockholm, 13:00 (English)
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Supervisors
Available from: 2025-08-22 Created: 2025-06-24 Last updated: 2025-08-14Bibliographically approved

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Bengtsson, FridaJouffray, Jean-BaptisteZhivkoplias, ErikBlasiak, RobertÖsterblom, Henrik

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