Illegal, unreported and unregulated fisheries catch in Raja Ampat Regency, Eastern Indonesia

The illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fisheries catch in Raja Ampat, Eastern Indonesia is estimated in the paper. The history of regulatory, technological, political and market changes from 1960 to present to estimate trends in the relative rate of misreporting of fisheries catch was analyzed. Trends were converted to absolute values using anchor points: known rates of misreporting from the literature from the region, and based on expert opinion. A Monte Carlo analysis was used to estimate the likely quantity of IUU catch with associated error ranges for six fisheries: reef fish, tuna, anchovy, shark, sea cucumber and lobster. Results show that illegal and unreported catch exceeded the reported catch by more than 40 thousand tonnes (or a factor of 1.5) for the year 2006. The value of the illegal and unreported catch in 2006 is 40 million USD. The catch missing from official records presents challenges for fishery managers, threatens the longterm sustainability of fisheries and thus the livelihoods in the region.