Introducing: Business Daily: Who’s behind Sierra Leone’s illegal fishing problem?

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1:05Hello and welcome to the documentary from the BBC World Service. I'm Ed Butler and I'd like to recommend the podcast that I host, Business Daily. It looks at how corporate money and decisions are affecting your life and what's really going on in the world of money. You can Listen and subscribe to Business Daily wherever you find this podcast. In today's episode, I've travelled to West Africa to look at how illegal industrial fishing has come to blight the lives and livelihoods of millions of people in coastal communities. Thank you for listening. Morning. Morning. Morning, morning. How's your head?

1:46My head is all right. It's my stomach I'm worrying about. Thank you. Thank you.

2:04Hello and welcome to Business Daily. My name's Ed Butler and today I'm going to sea. To sea off the coast of Sierra Leone, West Africa to be precise, where fishing for local people has become an increasingly challenging business. They do stealing, poaching, they cleared our nets here. Some of us even died through that. People were killed? Illegal fishing is too much here. If we hadn't been here, there should have been no fish. West Africa's illegal fishing trade and its consequences adds Business Daily from the BBC.

2:48So we're coming along the beach here. virgin sand and there is nothing on it except the occasional dugout canoe from the fishermen who live here and who go out in these tiny vessels hewn from the trunks of trees who go out miles to cast their nets

3:19six in the morning you go out at six and you're just in one of these little wooden dugout skiffs yeah for fishing how how deep can you go in one of those in the open atlantic yeah yeah yeah they used to go more than three hours out sea they leave the shore and be more than three hours out sea. It's only this ocean that supplies their living or feed them. I'm on the island of Sherbro, off the southern coast of Sierra Leone. The entire community here lives off marine resources one way or another. Herring, snapper, the abundant prawns that lurk within the mangroves. Thomas Touré is president of the Sierra Leonean Fisherman's Union.

4:04How long have you been a fisherman? Since I was born because my father was a fisherman, I got the fishing money to marry my mum. They gave back to me and attended school. Then I started selling fish for my mum at Kwendo. So tell me about the life of a fisherman. Is it a good life? Their gratitude is sickness and pneumonia. Really? Yes. You get sick all the time? You get sick. Is it a dangerous profession? A dangerous job, actually. It gets money if you are lucky. If you are not lucky, it is dangerous. But this is like the fish is most people's source of protein, right? It's how people get their strength.

4:48Yes, without fish, you could have been dead people because it is somehow cheaper. Fish is the staple food for us in Sierra Leone.

5:03people travel from across the country to buy the fish from coastal markets like this one but it seems the abundant catch from these rich waters is beginning to dwindle in front of me is a bunch of guys dragging in a huge net onto the sand how big is that net oh it's more than 200 meters. Wow. A 200 meter net. So they cast that one out and then in the morning they're pulling it in and you can see the fish wriggling inside.

5:47There's a woman here, she's picking among the jellyfish just to pull out some of the smallest sardines, are they? Just to go into her bucket. Everything will get eaten, except the jellyfish. Is this a good catch?

6:08This is a small catch, is it? What's your name, What's your name? Marie-Pierre. Marie-Pierre. Marie-Pierre. Marie-Pierre explains to me the problems the fishing communities are facing, most especially, she says, from the large foreign fishing boats that seem to be arriving here in ever larger numbers. There's supposed to be a seven-mile coastal exclusion zone off the shoreline here reserved for the local boats. But trawlers keep coming in, she says, and cutting the fishermen's nets at night to steal their catch. Thomas Touré, the union chief, confirms this account as well. Illegal fishing is too much here.

6:52If we hadn't been here, there should have been no fish. Because government authorities at times do be afraid to come to the fishers. I know that somebody who is doing illegal business has the money to bribe and pay so that he sustain himself. If there is no fish, we cannot feed our children to go to school. So this captures pretty much what Thomas is saying. We're standing now on Tombow Beach. You can see out to sea, I mean, there is now three or four major trawlers, big industrial boats. They're completely different from the local ones. These are definitely closer in than seven miles. They fish at night.

7:35They fish at night. Do they sometimes fish inside the exclusion zone? Moreover, they fish inside the exclusive zone. We said inshore, exclusive zone. These boats aren't just taking the coastal catch. They're sometimes said to be physically attacking artisanal fishermen as well. Musa Kasimo is one of them. Yesterday, Tola did the tiki. You saw three trawlers. I mean, he's pointing out to see now. Yesterday, the chain, they can't take him. It was yesterday that they trawled their chain. Do you mind where would they keep the chain? They live on the shore around 3.30, 4pm. They go into the ocean. So when they drop the chain, they have to come back to the shore for the night.

8:18But when they are not there, the tallers will come and sweep the chain. They cut the nets? Yeah, they cut the nets. They cut all? All their goats? Everything. All the fishing nets. Do you know who these people are? No.

8:36Soon as they saw them, the trawlers move deep into the ocean so they cannot meet them there. They leave the area. It happens often. We have a lot of financial constraints because you have to invest more than$50 ,000,$60 ,000. That's$200 or$300. Without retrieving the cash, you have to go into debt. Other fishermen told me of more violent encounters.

9:06I was fishing around midnight, and then this Korean trawler just came right behind me and rammed into my nets. I went up the boat, and they held me by the arm and threw me right inside the water. They threw you into the sea? Yeah, but not before we swim, but we don't dive. So they threw me right into the sea, but if I couldn't swim, I would have drowned.

9:30They come right into the inshore exclusively soon. They just ram them, divide the boat into the middle, and the fish has got drowned.

9:42They do stealing, poaching. That's why they came at night. They don't want us to see them even. Did you complain to anybody? Did you talk to the police? It's about complaining. They don't go through. They do complain, but they are not adhered to. Nobody listens. Nobody listens. The view there of fishermen in Tombow Beach, south of Freetown. I've been hearing stories like this for years in my visits to West Africa. Steve Trent is the co-founder of the Environmental Justice Foundation. It's a campaign group that's been researching the issue. The challenge for West African fisheries is illegal fishing.

10:21You've got a situation where billions of dollars now are being lost to those local economies, most of which are very poor. They are targeting species that are the bedrock, not just of livelihoods and jobs, but of food security for those people. And in a country like Sierra Leone, where around 60 % of all protein comes from fish, if you take that away, people have no options. They go hungry, much bigger problems.

10:55the environmental justice foundation collects videos like this one shot by artisanal fishermen showing direct clashes with foreign trawlers here you can see the trawler men throwing projectiles at the artisanal fishing boats who are complaining that their nets have again been cut steve trent says the evidence although patchy because of a lack of detailed research does indicate that there's been a massive collapse in fish stocks. We were seeing declines in productivity in what's called catch per unit effort, how many hours you have to fish to catch how many fish. We were getting multiple reports, consistent reports over time from the coastal community saying there's no fish left.

11:36As fish stocks have collapsed globally, those economic pressures have driven a push towards illegal fishing and I don't see in the near future that demand declining. Steve Trent, West Africa's illegal fishing trade and its consequences, and Business Daily from the BBC.

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13:32While we approached the Sierra Leonean government for an interview on this matter, Sheku Sei is the acting director of fisheries for the government. Illegal fishing, it used to be a big problem. At the moment, we've put in place measures, so it's reducing. There's a vessel monitoring system that enables us to see all the vessels that are licensed to fish in our waters. We used to have more than 10 infractions in a year, and if we catch anybody engaging in illegal fishing, they will be brought to the law. Well, hang on. I mean, you say this, but there was a case of Atlantico fishing company's vessel Jan May in 2024.

14:11Outstanding payments of around$100 ,000 because they illegally entered the exclusion zone. And you let them off. No, we don't let them off. The vessels were brought to port. The company was told to pay. But what happened is that the fine was so high, the company was unable to pay. So recently we reviewed the fines and we have now$150 ,000. You let them off. That's what the Auditor General is saying. No, no, we never let Jameh off. I've just said they requested the ministry to consider the impact of COVID and those who are unable to pay their fines that are accrued were let off. So you did let them off?

14:53Yes, but in principle, the government through the cabinet has considered that because of the COVID. You see, the point is here that we don't see very much clear data of many fines actually being applied in this country. It's not published information. And frequently, the people concerned, the regular fishermen out there are saying, you're looking after yourselves, you're not looking after us, the Sierra Leonean fishermen. No, if they want data, the data cannot just be thrown out there. Why not? We have the data that is available in the ministry and we can make it available. If you want to know what is happening with regards to infractions, we make them available.

15:35Well, I spoke to journalists who have no idea who's being prosecuted. It never seems to be said. And the point is there is a suspicion that you're taking kickbacks from the major international fishing organizations because the local fishermen say they are having their nets cut regularly. And I've spoken to several fishermen who say they're having their nets cut by big trawlers. and they are not getting any relief from the Ministry of Fishers? There are two issues you raise. One, that we do not make the data available. I've just said we make the data available to you. On the other hand, you've raised concern that the fishermen say their fishing nets are being cut by trawlers, and that's not also true.

16:16It's not true. They're lying. It's not true. Who is cutting their nets then? Because they keep saying they're losing. They cut their nets. They cut their own nets. When that happens, artisanal fishing canals, They do go out in the open waters. They compete for fishing grounds with the industrial trawlers. And so when they go there, there's a tendency that their net will be caught, especially if their lights are not on. When there is verification that the nets are being caught, the fishing companies will compensate them every time when they cut their nets. Well, I am being told by fishermen, A, they've never been compensated and they've never heard of anyone compensated by the fisheries ministry.

16:49But also they are saying they cannot identify these boats. They are hiding their identifications. and there is never a patrol boat coming past to stop them when they come into the IEZ. This is happening, they say, regularly. You're denying that's true. Blunt and lie. You think it's a blatant lie? It's a blatant lie. The government of Australia is very responsible. We have fisheries observers deployed on board every fishing vessel to verify whether, in fact, the net were caught. If their nets are caught and we have the evidences, definitely they will be compensated. Can you name all of the fishing boats that have actually been prosecuted for illegal fishing in the last five years?

17:32I will not be able to name all the fishing boats. Would you be able to present me with that information? Of course, of course, we can make it available for you. Chekou say, and despite repeated requests after this interview, that information was never made available to us at the BBC. The latest flashpoint around Freetown is here, at a pristine coastal resort called Black Johnson Beach, just south of the capital. The government is building an international harbour here, specifically for the large foreign trawlers, defying local opposition. It's being funded almost exclusively by China. According to campaigner Steve Trent, the bulk of illegal fishing across this region and the rest of the world is now being carried out by China's large international fishing fleet.

18:22In the past we've seen South Korean vessels there, we've seen Taiwanese, we've seen European vessels there doing bad things. But now when you look across that region, across the Gulf of Guinea, you can see it is overwhelmingly Chinese. What we've found consistently over this last ten years and more is where you have vessels that are fishing illegally, it's highly likely that there will be other associated abuses. That includes violence against crew. Quite recently, over the last year, we were able to document the use of North Korean forced, I would call slave labour on these Chinese vessels. They were being held on those vessels without ever landing.

19:08we've also now got interviews with witnesses across the Chinese distant water fleet of violence against crew up to and including deaths and what do the Chinese say since you're pointing the finger mostly at them what are they saying to these reports you're gathering so the Chinese to date it's been denial flat denial China to date still is not doing nearly enough to control their fleet In fact, I would say they're doing virtually nothing. They're enabling it through subsidies, through a lack of oversight and control. What we need to see now is the Chinese government take this issue seriously, understand that it's reputationally damaging for them, and most of all that it's harming these communities and these invaluable ecosystems in some of the poorest countries on our planet.

19:58I did attempt to speak to China's local trade representative in Sierra Leone for this programme without success. Much of the fish finds its way into processed foods that are sold around the world. Steve Trent says that's why consumers everywhere should start paying more attention to the origins of the seafood on their plates. The European Union should be pushing back on China and asking for them to take the necessary steps. The UK should be doing the same. Do you want to take a product that's been fished illegally, probably unsustainably, stolen from a poor third-party nation and caught by a slave?

20:36Or do you want a product that you actually enjoy eating? Steve Trent. Business Daily won't normally be here within the documentary, so if you'd like to hear more episodes from us, do check out our other programmes looking at the world of money. The US-China economic relationship, for example. The baker's daughter who brought Japanese rice cakes into the mainstream. Or perhaps my recent reporting on why Sierra Leone's largest diamond mine has been forced to shut down. Search for Business Daily wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

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