RT Journal Article T1 Criminal sanctions and IUU fishing: the case of Spain A1 Teijo García, Carlos K1 Fisheries crime K1 IUU fishing K1 Law enforcement K1 Administrative sanctions K1 Criminal sanctions AB This article sets the scene for the contributions in this Special Issue on Criminal sanctions and IUU fishing: the case of Spain. The objective of the collection of papers included in this special issue is to stimulate an academic conversation about whether or not it would be appropriate to intensify the application of criminal sanctions in Spain for serious cases of illegal fishing. There are two main reasons to justify the connection of this international debate on the best legal means to fight against illegal fishing with the particular case of Spain. The first is the significance of the Spanish distant-water fleet, both in terms of the EU and on an international scale. The second reason is the current context of fisheries law reform in Spain PB Elsevier YR 2022 FD 2022 LK http://hdl.handle.net/10347/29380 UL http://hdl.handle.net/10347/29380 LA eng NO Marine Policy 147 (2023) 105341 NO This work has received financial support from the Spanish State Research Agency, Ministry of Science and Innovation (DOI: 10.13039/501100011033) within the framework of the research project “The implementation of SDG 14 in Spain and the EU: regulatory challenges for international cooperation and maritime security (ESPODS14)” (PID2019–109680RB-I00) DS Minerva RD 25 abr 2026