The Environmental Justice Foundation has just released (11 Oct) a good report about pirate fishing off West Africa. Below is an extract with the link.
‘Global losses due to Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) or “pirate fishing” are estimated to be between US$10 billion and US$23.5 billion per year. West African waters are estimated to have the highest levels of IUU fishing in the world, representing up to 37 percent of the region’s catch.
Along with the economic losses, pirate fishing in West Africa severely compromises the food security and livelihoods of coastal communities. In Sierra Leone, fish represents 64 percent of total animal protein consumed in the country, and an estimated 230,000 people are directly employed in fisheries.
IUU vessels compromise the health of fish stocks and the marine environment. Ninety percent of vessels documented by EJF in West Africa are bottom trawlers, which drag heavy trawl equipment along the seabed, resulting in damage to the bottom habitat and high levels of by-catch, including vulnerable marine life such as sharks and turtles.
Pirate fishing vessels also benefit from lower costs , thereby severely undermining legitimate fishing operators. By fishing in inshore areas reserved for local fishers, they also displace artisanal fishers into riverine areas where fish breed, resulting in further damage to the marine environment and the depletion of fish stocks.
Between 1st January 2010 and 31st July 2012, EJF’s community surveillance project in southern Sierra Leone received 252 reports of pirate fishing by industrial vessels in inshore areas. EJF’s local staff filmed and photographed 10 different vessels operating illegally, transmitting the evidence to the Sierra Leone Government and European authorities. Nine out of 10 of the vessels are accredited to export their catches to Europe.’
Read the rest and download the report at: http://ejfoundation.org/oceans/media/pirate-fishing-exposed
