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Major problems facing the enforcement of international fishing regulations are "flag hopping" and fishing under flags of convenience. These phenomena are direct results of many countries opening their ship registries to fishing companies of other nationalities. By allowing this, countries can increase the revenue that they gain from fishing, and this has made the idea of open registry Countries can make money from the registry of foreign ships, so the practice of open registry has become very popular in poorer countries such as Panama and Bolivia. All of this sounds fine, when the country allowing open registry follows international protocol. However, the reason flag hopping is so detrimental to international fishing regulations is that many countries where open registry is popular do not abide by international fishing laws and are not parties to relevant international treaties. This means that fishing companies that register under the flags of these countries no longer have to abide by these laws either. They can go into marine reserves and fish, they can fish as much as they want to with no fear of repercussion, and if the country of registry decides that it wishes to comply with international regulations then the fishing company can simply switch flags in order to continue fishing outside of regulations, hence the term "flag hopping". Boats can switch flags without ever docking in the port of the country that they wish to switch to. This phenomenon creates a tremendous loophole in the enforcement of international fishing regulations and limits the effects of fishing regulations (Desombre, 2005).
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