Exploring the Transnational Governance of Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported Fishing: A Network Approach

Abstract

The global issue of Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) fishing is recognised as a governance challenge due to both a lack of enforcement as well as insufficiencies in the current policy framework around the issue. In response to these short-fallings, transnational institutions have been emerging which would characterise the total institutional environment around IUU fishing as a regime complex. This research identifies how the presence of transnational institutions in the regime complex around IUU fishing influences its degree of fragmentation. As different degrees of fragmentation can be linked to differences in structure, a network-based approach is taken to measure the structural properties of the regime complex. To this end, two networks are created, one based on direct interactions between institutions and one based on overlapping actor constellations. The network outcomes indicate that the structure of the total regime complex around IUU fishing can be characterised as cohesive and connected modular, with a low to moderate degree of fragmentation and as limitedly influenced by the presence of transnational institutions. These results should be read with caution since currently existing theories do not provide for conclusive guidance in interpreting network outcomes in the context of regime complexes. Further research should focus on these methodological caveats.