Pirate fishing is worth US$23.5 billion a year. It’s big business. Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU or pirate fishing) is considered to be one of the most serious threats to our global fish stocks.

Pirate operators over-fish and often use destructive fishing methods, leading to the destruction of habitat and breeding areas for marine species.

It’s not just the environment and the fish stocks that are affected. The impact on small-scale fishers is devastating as large scale trawlers are fishing too close to the shore line  depleting stocks, destroying fishing gear and in some cases inciting violent confrontations that have lead to the loss of life.

The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) has been in Sierra Leone working with local fishing communities to document and expose the extensive impacts of IUU fishing on local livelihoods, incomes and food security.

Pirate fishing vessels regularly enter the inshore waters upon which communities depend, and local people report a decrease in the size and number of fish in the area, along with the frequent loss of precious fishing gear, and occasional deliberate attacks on their canoes. Meanwhile local women report a decrease in household incomes and available food – leading to decreased health, school attendance and ability to meet basic nutritional and housing requirements.

Pirate fishermen would not be able to operate without a market for their catch. One of the main driving forces behind IUU fishing in West Africa is the enormous demand for seafood in Europe and East Asia. EJF’s investigations have exposed all parts of the supply chain – from East Asian fishing vessels plundering West Africa’s coastlines right through to the sale of seafood in Europe and the UK – linking it back to West Africa, via the Spanish port of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Canary Islands).

Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) or “pirate” fishing is considered as one of the most serious threats to the achievement of sustainable fish stocks, with recent studies putting the worldwide value of illicit catches as high as US$23.5b a year.

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