New Internationalist – September 2019

Oceans

I

HOW TO FIGHT

ILLEGAL FISHING

O

n the shore of the Liberian fishing

town Robertsport, Wilson Weah pre-

pares his narrow wooden canoe for a

night’s fishing. Pointing out to the sea, he

comments: ‘We used to see big trawlers

on the horizon emptying the ocean and

cutting through our nets, but since our

coastguard started inspections at sea we

catch more fish again.’

The fishers from Robertsport go out

alone or in groups with their colourfully

painted canoes. Weah, who is the head of

the local fishers co-operative, says: ‘Eve-

rybody here lives from fishing to support

their families and to pay for their chil-

dren’s school fees.’

Liberia has the longest coastline in

West Africa and the government wants

to improve food security and ensure

the livelihoods of the country’s 33,000

fisherfolk.

In February 2017 the Liberian army

started joint at-sea patrols with the ocean

conservation organization Sea Shepherd.

The organization provides the Liberian

coastguard with a ship, small boats and a

largely volunteer crew.

Liberia has turned into a regional

leader in the fight against illegal fishing.

Since the start of this co-operation, 15

fishing vessels have been held for illegal

fishing and other fisheries crimes; only

three arrests were made in the seven

years prior to this partnership.

On Sea Shepherd’s boat, the Bob

Barker, the Liberian army coastguard gets

training on how to board a trawler, check

documents, do body searches and make

arrests.

‘We were patrolling just around 40 per

cent of our coastline,’ says Major General

Prince Johnson, Chief of Staff for the

Liberian Army. ‘Joint at-sea patrols with

Sea Shepherd have given us the oppor-

tunity to extend to almost 90 per cent of

our waters.’

Big industrial vessels, mainly from

Europe and Asia, plunder tonnes of fish

in the mostly ungoverned waters of West

Africa. They enter illegally in areas dedi-

cated to artisanal fishing, causing over-

exploitation and conflicts. To protect fish

stocks in their own seas, rich countries

send their fishing fleets to the shores of

poor countries and to the high seas. In

these regions there is less capacity and

money for patrols and enforcement.

The culprits

‘The majority of the boats that have

been arrested for illegal, unreported and

unregulated fishing [IUU fishing] are

Chinese or Asian vessels,’ says Johnson,

‘but we have also arrested European

vessels. Europeans don’t always want to

co-operate with us and don’t like that we

enter with weapons. But since we are also

sometimes dealing with illegal drugs and

child trafficking or money laundering at

sea we can’t board a ship unarmed.’

Sea Shepherd’s Australian captain on

the Bob Barker, Anteo Broadfield, says

that finding illegal boats can be very

hard ‘because these vessels know how to

avoid detection and the area is very large.

These vessels will turn off their AIS [auto-

matic identification system] and they will

have a black ship with no deck lights. And

they will do this just before they come up

to the border of Liberia. Unless we are

there in positions surveilling that border

they can go unnoticed. So, surveillance

is the key to combating the IUU fishing

problem. When a big vessel is seen we

take off in two small boats with the coast-

guard to inspect the vessel.’

In most cases those caught fishing

illegally are doing so without a licence,

inside the artisanal fishing zone or using

prohibited fishing gear. Local artisanal

fishers also provide information about

suspect ships and dubious activity.

A multi billion dollar business

The UN Food and Agriculture Organiza-

tion (FAO) estimates IUU fishing accounts

for up to 26 million tonnes of fish a year,

valued at between $10 and $23 billion –

more than 15 per cent of the world’s fish

capture.^1

Market-distorting EU and Chinese

subsidies lead to illegal overfishing. Half

of the fishing resources in West African

waters have already been overfished,

according to the FAO.

Rashid Sumaila, professor of ocean

and fisheries economics at the University

of British Columbia, says: ‘A big chunk of

the subsidies given are capacity-enhanc-

ing, such as fuel and new vessel construc-

tion subsidies. These will stimulate more

fishing of fish stocks that, in many cases,

are already overfished.’

Can fishers, coastguards and marine activists see off

the thieves from powerful nations plundering the seas

of West Africa? Aïda Grovestins reports.

(Above) A Liberian soldier, on joint patrol with

Sea Shepherd, about to board an illegal shrimper.

SEA SHEPHERD GLOBAL

(Below) Traditional fishers, like these in Sierra

Leone, are fighting to protect their livelihoods –

and fish stocks – from foreign illegal trawling.

SAIDU BAH/GETTY

SEPTEMBER- OCTOBER 2019 27