Guidance

Fishing Area

Updated 3 September 2025

1. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ):   

• Exclusive Economic Zones extend out to 200 nautical miles (nm) from the coastline or a median line where it meets another country’s limits. Within EEZs the coastal state has sovereign rights to exploration and exploitation of the natural resources, marine research and responsibility for protection and preservation of Marine life.  

2. High Seas  

• High Seas Area - high seas are international marine waters outside the jurisdiction of any country beyond the 200nm limit of the EEZ.   

See below a map indicating the EEZs and High Seas areas surrounding the UK.

3. RFMO:  

• Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMO) - RFMOs are international organisations establishing binding measures for conservation and sustainable management of highly migratory or straddling fish species.  

Whether an RFMO needs to be referred on a catch certificate depends on: 

• The catch area, and; 
• The species caught. 
• Depending on the RFMO, are either: 
• Only applicable to those vessels which are fishing outside of EEZs but within the RFMOs ‘Convention Area’. This may be known as the ‘Regulatory Area’, for example in the case of NEAFC or NAFO. 
• Applicable to all fishing activity for species managed by that RFMO within the RFMOs Convention Area, including EEZs. This is usually the case for the tuna RFMOs due to highly migratory nature of species, for example ICCAT. 
• Each RFMO has defined and, in some cases, provided a list of which species they manage. 
• UK vessels will have been issued a licence to fish in RFMO areas, and/or will be recorded on a list of authorised vessels held by the RFMO.

The dark blue areas indicate the areas of the NEAFC convention area that sit outside of an EEZ and therefore need to be included on a catch certificate.

4. RFMO names and Abbreviations

Name	Abbreviation	URLs
Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources	CCAMLR	Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources
Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna	CCSBT	Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna
General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean	GFCM	General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean
Indian Ocean Tuna Commission	IOTC	Indian Ocean Tuna Commission
Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission	IATTC	Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission
International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas	ICCAT	International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas
North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization	NASCO	North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization
North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission	NEAFC	North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission
North Pacific Fisheries Commission	NPFC	North Pacific Fisheries Commission
Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization	NAFO	Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization
South East Atlantic Fisheries Organisation	SEAFO	South East Atlantic Fisheries Organisation
South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation	SPRFMO	South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation
Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement	SIOFA	Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement
Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission	WCPFC	Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission