Profiles

Illegal Fishing in Siera Leone

West Africa supports one of the richest fishing grounds in the world. In Sierra Leone - recently ranked last out of 177 nations by the United Nations Human Development Index - fisheries have the potential to provide crucial developmental income to a country desperately trying to recover from civil war. For many coastal communities, fishing offers the only available opportunity for a livelihood that allows for the rebuilding of homes, sending children to school, and access to adequate medical treatment. Yet every day, up and down the coast of the country, this opportunity is being taken away by illegal fishing. The government of Sierra Leone, with limited budget and even more limited resources, is barely able to patrol its national waters; as a result, illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing by foreign operators is rampant. IUU fishing is destroying the local marine environment that some of the world’s poorest people depend on.

Dotted around Sherbro Island, in the south of Sierra Leone, are approximately 100 villages completely dependent on fishing. Using nets and hooks that can take years of careful saving to buy, and operating in the open ocean with paddle driven dugout canoes, life as a fisher under these conditions is not easy. In the community of Borhol-Ngai, local chief Alpha Baimoh has been fishing for many years, yet according to him the biggest challenge he and his community face are the illegal fishing vessels. “We are very bitter, because the only place we fish the trawlers are destroying.” Using highly destructive trawl nets, and targeting the Inshore Exclusion Zone that contains key fish breeding areas, illegal vessels are having an enormous impact on local fish stocks. Targeting “valuable” species, anything not considered worth keeping – as much as 70% - is dumped as bycatch, and thus is lost to local communities and breeding populations.

In addition, illegal trawlers often directly conflict with local fishers. Many fishers – if not the majority – have lost their hooks or nets two or three times to the trawlers. Many claim that they are deliberately targeted, and fear not only for their valuable gear, but also their lives. “You see the trawlers turn deliberately at you” says Alpha. “Only recently I had an incident. We went out fishing in the morning, and laid our nets. We then saw a trawler heading straight at us. We waved and shouted, but it kept coming right at our canoe. Finally we had to jump. The trawler hit our boat…it didn’t stop at all, not when they were coming at us, nor once we were hit and in the water. We had to be rescued.”

Although shocking, Alpha’s story is not unique. Up and down this coast local fishers have lost their gear, watched as desperately needed fish are dumped, and been attacked with stones, catapults and boiling water. The origins of the illegal trawlers are very difficult to identify – names and identification numbers are invariable covered up, and flags are rarely flown. What is known, however, is that off the coast of West Africa a sophisticated laundering operation is taking place, involving transhipment, the mixing of legal catches with illegal, the mislabelling of product, and the use of Flags and Ports of Convenience to exploit legal loopholes and gain access to the lucrative markets of Europe, North America and the Far East.

While the challenges are enormous, there are solutions to ending illegal fishing in West Africa. Governments in the region are demonstrating the will to address the problem, yet are desperately short of resources and training, and need support for measures such as port control and monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS). Local fishing communities and NGOs have a vital role to play, and can be engaged in measures that strengthen their voice in the sustainable management of local marine resources. International measures are equally critical – ending market access and logistical support for the illegal fishers are key, as is closing international legal loopholes such as the use of Flags of Convenience. None of these solutions are simple, and each requires effective international coordination and support – yet sustaining the livelihoods of fishers like Alpha Baimoh and his community is worth it.

-Contributed by Duncan Copeland, Environmental Justice Foundation

The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) has been investigating and campaigning for solutions to illegal ‘pirate’ fishing in West Africa since 2004. In Sierra Leone EJF is partnering and building capacity with local communities, NGOs and the Sierra Leone government on local initiatives to address the problem. EJF also campaigns internationally to secure international support for developing countries to combat illegal fishing in their waters, eliminate Flags of Convenience, and press governments to take concrete measures to close the loopholes that allow pirate fishing to happen. For more information please visit www.ejfoundation.org.

Image captions:
Illegal foreign trawlers are decimating fish stocks and local livelihoods in Sierra Leone.
© Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF)

Local chief and fisher Alpha Baimoh surveys the sea for illegal fishing vessels before daring to venture out to fish. The damage to his canoe, run over by a trawler, is clearly visible.
© Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF)

Posted December 11, 2008

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