Whose boat is this? Ultimate Beneficial Ownership in UK fishing

The report finds that the UK lacks a robust system for publicly identifying the ultimate beneficial ownership of commercial fishing vessels, with UBO easily identifiable in only 24% of sampled vessels. It argues that current vessel registration and licensing processes do not require UBO disclosure, and the Companies House 'People with Significant Control' (PSC) register is often insufficient due to high ownership thresholds and the use of foreign corporate structures. To combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, the report recommends reducing the UBO disclosure threshold to 10% or less, mandating UBO collection during registration and licensing, and establishing a centralised, publicly accessible UBO register for commercial fishing vessels.

APA

ClientEarth (2026). Whose boat is this? Ultimate Beneficial Ownership in UK fishing. https://www.clientearth.org/media/ndjk1wog/uk-coalition-for-fisheries-transparency-digital-2.pdf

Chicago

ClientEarth. Whose boat is this? Ultimate Beneficial Ownership in UK fishing. 2026. https://www.clientearth.org/media/ndjk1wog/uk-coalition-for-fisheries-transparency-digital-2.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=ClientEarth |title=Whose boat is this? Ultimate Beneficial Ownership in UK fishing |date=June 2026 |url=https://www.clientearth.org/media/ndjk1wog/uk-coalition-for-fisheries-transparency-digital-2.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{clientearth2026whose, author = {{ClientEarth}}, title = {{Whose boat is this? Ultimate Beneficial Ownership in UK fishing}}, institution = {ClientEarth}, year = {2026}, month = jun, url = {https://www.clientearth.org/media/ndjk1wog/uk-coalition-for-fisheries-transparency-digital-2.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }