Based on detailed analysis carried out by the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries, overfishing of cod amounted to about 100,000 tonnes every single year from 2002 to 2005. This put enormous pressure on fish stocks, the fishing industry and the communities along the coast that depend on fishing.
The work of developing further measures to combat black fishing is continuing with undiminished strength. Black fishing in the Barents Sea is part of organised, international financial crime that appears to embrace corruption, tax evasion and the use of tax havens to conceal income and the identity of those involved.
A report on the trading flow of white fish to and from Asia which indicates that systematic black fishing is a transnational crime. The report has been prepared by Gunnar Album of Friends of the Earth Norway, in collaboration with WWF.