Lauren Young

The RUSI horizon scan on IUU and climate change is a seminal piece of work and could affect policymaking for years to come. While some of the highlighted issues may never materialize, RUSI has demonstrated how climate change will touch every aspect of ocean management—including legal and IUU fishing. It is now up to governments and international bodies to do the hard work of ensuring that climate change does not allow illegal activities to make sustainable fisheries even more difficult to achieve.

IUU actors and fishers in general will be chasing those fish stocks as they move. And there's predictions, or obviously concern, that they will move in across existing maritime boundaries and IUU actors will pursue them across those boundaries," report co-author Lauren Young told VOA.

Laurent Young a Research Analyst at the Royal United Service Institute for Defence and Security says that the very metal in the shells themselves poses a risk. "There's a good chance that Russia is using some old missile tank shells - so they may contain depleted uranium. The reason they use the uranium is that it can penetrate heavy artillery. It is depleted uranium so it is obviously not radioactive itself, but it is highly toxic when it is burnt or aerodises on impact - so thee are huge environmental impacts there