In an attempt to clean up its outcaste status, Belize has stuck off 300 fishing vessels from its registry. By doing so it hopes to gain some Atlantic tuna quotas. Many fishing vessels registered with Belize have in the past failed or refused to comply with national and international fishing regulations as they operated all over the world. This had caused Belize to be labeled as an IUU (Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated) fishing nation.
In February 2003, Belize began enforcing the Belize High Seas Fish Act, which was designed to comply with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, FAO Compliance Agreement, the Fish Stocks Agreement and the International Plan of Action against IUU Fishing developed by FAO.
Since then, Belize has put in place various measures including proper licensing fleet tracking, a catch reporting system and maintenance of a daily log. With these measures being put in effect, Belize hopes to be welcomed back into the fishing fraternity.
In this respect Belize has asked ICCAT (International Commission for Conservation of Atlantic Tunas) to lift its sanctions (in force since 1997) and grant it a small quota of certain species of tuna.