Transnational criminal networks are increasingly exploiting tuna fishing operations and seafood supply chains to smuggle cocaine across the Pacific, raising concerns about the impact of the illicit drug trade on island communities.
The latest Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) Trade and Industry News report highlights how legitimate tuna shipments, fishing vessels and offshore refuelling operations are being used to move drugs from South America towards international markets, including Australia and New Zealand.
The report comes as global cocaine production reaches record levels. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, production rose to about 4,100 tonnes of pure cocaine in 2024, around four times the level recorded a decade earlier.
Ecuador, a major tuna-producing and exporting country, has become a significant transit point for international drug trafficking, with criminal networks exploiting the industry’s extensive maritime transport routes.
In March 2025, Italian police seized 250 kilograms of cocaine concealed in a container carrying canned tuna from Ecuador. In 2023, Spanish police seized 7.5 tonnes of cocaine hidden in frozen tuna destined for European markets.
The report said the scale of tuna exports made it difficult to determine how much illicit cargo escaped detection.
Ecuador exports more than 500,000 tonnes of tuna annually, providing extensive shipping networks that criminal groups can exploit to conceal drug consignments among legitimate goods.
The report also describes how criminal gangs in Ecuador have expanded their influence in coastal fishing communities, with fishermen allegedly being threatened, extorted or forced to participate in smuggling operations.
Some fishermen face pressure to transport drugs or pay fees to criminal groups, putting their livelihoods and families at risk.
Beyond concealing cocaine in seafood shipments, traffickers are reportedly using larger fishing vessels, including tuna seiners and longliners, as offshore refuelling points for high-speed boats and semi-submersible vessels carrying drugs.
The report cites media accounts of US military operations against vessels alleged to have supported drug trafficking in the eastern Pacific, including tuna fishing vessels.
The effects of the drug trade are also being felt across Pacific island countries, where cocaine packages have washed ashore and suspected drug-smuggling vessels have been found abandoned.
In the Marshall Islands, cocaine packages have repeatedly washed up on reefs and beaches, including on the atolls of Wotho, Arno, Jaluit, Ailuk and Ailinglaplap. The report says the discoveries increased in 2025, prompting concerns about the movement of drugs through the country.
It also describes a reported incident in which cocaine packages were found attached to a satellite buoy similar to those used by tuna fishing fleets to track drifting fish aggregating devices.
The report identifies the South Pacific as an important transit route for drugs destined for Australia and New Zealand.
During the first six weeks of 2026, law enforcement agencies reportedly seized more than 14 tonnes of cocaine from the high seas and vessels in port, alongside a further quantity recovered from a shipping container. Much of the activity occurred in or near French Polynesia.
In the Cook Islands, 26 kilogrammes of cocaine reportedly washed onto a reef on Mitiaro.
Fiji also recorded a major seizure in early 2026, when police confiscated 2.6 tonnes of cocaine and arrested six men, including four Ecuadorians and two Fijian nationals, at a remote jetty in north-west Viti Levu. Investigators suspected the drugs had been transported by a semi-submersible vessel before being transferred to a local boat for delivery ashore.
The report also notes that eight suspected drug-smuggling vessels had reportedly drifted ashore in the western Pacific, including in the Marshall Islands and Solomon Islands, since 2024.
It warns that the financial incentives driving the cocaine trade, combined with established criminal networks and continued international demand, are likely to sustain the use of maritime routes and legitimate fishing industry operations for smuggling.
The findings highlight the growing challenge facing Pacific governments as they seek to protect fishing communities, maritime security and legitimate tuna industries from criminal exploitation.
