Off the coast
of West Africa, we have unmasked a trail of pirate fishing and
stolen food leading directly from Africa into Europe and beyond. In
partnership with the Environmental Justice Foundation, we have
discovered 61 pirate vessels that are stealing food from a poor
country that is losing millions of dollars a year in stolen
fish.
From onboard our ship, the Esperanza, we have documented these foreign-flagged
vessels in the waters of West Africa. Nineteen of the ships we
documented had been involved in illegal fishing activities in the
past, and 21 couldn't be identified because their names were
hidden.
Two Guinean enforcement officials, with powers of
arrest, have now joined the Esperanza, which will continue to carry out
surveillance operations in the region.
Five unidentified vessels were spotted in waters inside the
Guinean 12 mile zone - waters reserved for local fishermen. Local
fishermen just can't compete with these pirate ships. They've been
forced, often in unstable canoes, to fish further and further from
shore. Collisions are not uncommon. Legitimate local fishermen have
died while the pirates continue to fish further inshore.
We have also witnessed an illegal transfer of fish from two
vessels to a large refrigerated vessel, or reefer (Guinea outlawed
such transhipments last year). Transhipping is one of the major
ways in which pirate fishing fleets hide their catches and launder
them through Europe.
West Africa is the only region in the world where fish
consumption is falling. According to an estimate from the the UK
Department for International Development, cash and food starved
nations like Guinea are losing $100 million each year in stolen
fish.
Internationally, pirate fishing is worth billions of dollars a
year - 20 percent of the total fish catch. It's estimated that just
in sub-Saharan Africa it nets $1billion annually, while in the
waters of the Southern Ocean, up to 50 percent of the valuable
Patagonian Toothfish (which you may know as Chilean Seabass on
restaraunt menus) may come from illegal activities. In the Baltic
Sea, 40 percent of the cod caught in 2002 - 2003 is thought to have
been illegal.
Despite the fact that pirate fishing is devastating to ocean
life and the livelihood of some of the world's poorest people, not
enough is being done to stop it.
Our oceans campaigner onboard, Sarah Duthie, said the solution
has to come from governments taking action by closing ports to
pirate fishing vessels and making sure companies are
prosecuted.