Hidden boat ownership risks fuelling illegal fishing in UK waters
Less than a quarter of the UK’s largest commercial fishing vessels may have clear ownership transparency. And this is creating a systemic blind spot in UK fisheries governance. Environmental law organisation ClientEarth has laid out these findings in a new analysis: Whose Boat Is This? The current regulatory gap on commercial fishing vessel ownership risks enabling vessel owners to operate through complex corporate structures and hide behind shell companies. This can mask the Ultimate Beneficial Ownership (UBO) of these vessels. ClientEarth’s Kyle Lischak said: The core problem is simple: the government does not publicly identify who really owns many of the…

