Like other wildlife crime, the legal and illegal trade in marine species are closely intertwined. Opportunities for laundering illegally collected and transported species into the legitimate trading sector abound. At the point of consumption, the true origins of marine products can be difficult, if not impossible, to discern.

As demand increases for marine products, and supply networks stretch across the globe to meet it, opportunities for illegality to seep into the supply chain will increase. The high profits and low risk associated with marine trafficking attract transnational criminal networks and criminals working undercover in legal companies and industries. 

 A host of criminality pervades the marine species trade, including smuggling, document fraud, tax evasion, bribery, money laundering, forced labour and other human rights abuses. The trade converges with drug and human smuggling.