Fisheries and Wildlife Financial Crime Specialist (FWFCS)

The Fisheries and Wildlife Financial Crime Specialist (FWFCS) reflects a growing recognition that financial crime is not limited to traditional banking, fraud, or corporate misconduct. Financial crime can also be deeply connected to environmental harm, illegal fishing, wildlife trafficking, vessel ownership structures, trade-based crime, corruption, sanctions exposure, and the movement of illicit proceeds through legitimate markets.

Fisheries and Wildlife enforcement increasingly requires professionals to look beyond the immediate offence and consider the financial systems, corporate structures, and commercial incentives that enable illegal activity. A vessel, landing record, export transaction, shell company, or beneficial ownership trail may all form part of a broader financial crime picture. Understanding these links is essential for modern investigators, regulators, analysts, and compliance professionals working in fisheries, oceans, wildlife, customs, border, and environmental enforcement.

The CFCA is pleased to support this emerging area of professional education and to contribute to the development of specialized training for those working to detect, investigate, and disrupt financial crime connected to fisheries and wildlife activity.

Why Choose the FWFCS Certification

  • Specialized Focus on Fisheries and Wildlife Crime – Develop targeted knowledge of how financial crime appears in fisheries, oceans, wildlife, and environmental crime contexts, including illegal harvesting, trafficking, false documentation, concealed ownership, and proceeds of crime.

    Follow-the-Money Approach – Learn how to connect environmental and resource-based offences to financial benefit, commercial transactions, asset ownership, trade activity, and suspicious financial patterns.

    Practical, Investigation-Focused Curriculum – Build applied skills relevant to investigators, analysts, regulators, compliance professionals, and enforcement personnel working with complex financial crime, environmental crime, and cross-border risk.

    Coverage of Emerging and Under-Addressed Threats – Explore a growing area of financial crime risk that includes illegal fishing, wildlife trafficking, corruption, trade-based laundering, shell companies, beneficial ownership concerns, and illicit financial flows.

    Built for Interdisciplinary Professionals – The certification is particularly valuable for those working across financial crime, fisheries and oceans enforcement, wildlife protection, customs, border security, intelligence, compliance, and regulatory oversight.

The FWFCS Curriculum

  • Module 1: Financial Crime and the Criminal Justice System

  • Module 2: Sector-Specific Offence Typologies in Fisheries and Wildlife Enforcement

  • Module 3: Organized Crime in Fisheries and Wildlife Sectors

  • Module 4: Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing

  • Module 5: Fraud in Fisheries and Wildlife Sectors

  • Module 6: Bribery and Corruption in Marine and Conservation Governance

  • Module 7: Sanctions and Maritime Evasion

  • Module 8: Trade-Based Financial Crimes

  • Module 9: Tax Offences in Fisheries and Wildlife Enterprises

  • Module 10: Corporate Ownership and Offshore Concealment

  • Module 11: Governance, Risk Management, and Intelligence-Led Enforcement

  • Module 12: Applied Financial Investigation Techniques

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

  • The Fisheries and Wildlife Financial Crime Specialist (FWFCS) certification is designed for professionals who need to understand how financial crime connects to illegal fishing, wildlife trafficking, environmental crime, trade-based crime, corruption, ownership concealment, and proceeds of crime. It is especially relevant for fisheries and oceans personnel, wildlife enforcement officers, financial crime investigators, intelligence analysts, customs and border officials, regulators, compliance professionals, and others working in enforcement, investigations, or risk management.

    The program is also suitable for professionals who may not have a traditional financial crime background but are increasingly required to identify financial indicators, understand illicit profit motives, recognize suspicious commercial activity, and connect environmental or resource-based offences to financial benefit. It is ideal for learners who want practical, sector-specific training on how fisheries and wildlife crime is financed, concealed, investigated, and disrupted.

  • The Fisheries and Wildlife Financial Crime Specialist (FWFCS) is designed to be accessible to a broad range of professionals with an interest in financial crime, fisheries and oceans enforcement, wildlife crime, environmental crime, compliance, intelligence, or regulatory work. Learners do not need to be financial crime experts before enrolling, but they should have an interest in understanding how illegal fishing, wildlife trafficking, environmental offending, trade-based crime, corruption, and proceeds of crime connect to financial investigation and risk.

  • The course is available through Dalhousie University

  • There are no recertification or ongoing CPD requirements for the certification.

    You are expected to keep up-to-date with developments in the industry through your own knowledge building and taking advantage of CFCA publications and webinars.

  • Follow the Registration link on this page.

Packages and Pricing
$995 - Visit Dalhousie University