yacht fisher the illegal

The Number of Small Fishing Vessels Smuggling Illegal Drugs Has Tripled

A lack of options for commercial fishermen in coastal communities has led to a boom in trafficking

Joshua Rapp Learn

Contributing Writer

The story of how illegal drugs make their way across the ocean often starts with a failing or banned fishing fleet in a marginalized coastal community. The reasons vary, but depleted seafood stocks from overfishing in areas of Asia, polluted waters in the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa, and the declaration of a new marine protected area in the Caribbean have all stopped fishers from earning their livelihood and sparked some vessels to turn to shipping illicit substances, according to an international team of researchers who recently analyzed drug busts.

According to a September study in Fish and Fisheries , the use of small fishing vessels to smuggle illegal drugs is on the rise across the world as traffickers seek to take advantage of porous borders and the relatively murky laws governing international waters. The use of small vessels has tripled in the past eight years to represent about 15 percent of the total global retail value of illegal drugs. “The fishing sector is increasingly a vector for transporting drugs,” says Dyhia Belhabib , principal investigator with Ecotrust Canada, a nonprofit organization working to build a conservation-based economy and the lead author of the study.

Belhabib first became interested in conducting a study during a trip to Guinea-Bissau, where she heard that small boats were being used to smuggle drugs as part of the country’s major trafficking problem. She later began working on the study as part of a larger project called Spyglass . The publicly available database collects criminal records of sea vessels from law enforcement officials, media and other sources as an effort to increase the visibility of repeat offenders and improve international policing. The platform, hosted by Ecotrust Canada, is intended to help officials, nongovernmental organizations and others track and sanction high-risk vessels.

Ife Okafor-Yarwood , a lecturer in sustainable development at the University of St. Andrews in the U.K. who wasn’t involved in Belhabib’s study, says Spyglass is a helpful tool that is easy to navigate for researchers and the general public. “Spyglass can be a useful tool for maritime law enforcements,” she says, “especially in countries where the monitoring control and surveillance capability is weak as they can use it to track a vessels history of violations and other fisheries related crime.”

International waters are notoriously lawless, and vessels of all sizes are often suspected of involvement in crimes such as illegal fishing, human trafficking, onboard slavery and murder. The United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime noted in a report that drug trafficking was linked to illegal fishing, but Belhabib wanted to verify this by looking at the record.

For the study, Belhabib and her colleagues analyzed 292 cases from media reports, press releases and reports from governments and other sources on trends and patterns, looking for evidence of drug busts in six languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, French and Chinese. They first took the number of apprehended vessels and determined the value of the drugs onboard. They then ran models to estimate how many vessels—detected and undetected—were involved in illicit trade over time, and what portion of the overall drug trade their cargoes represented using figures from the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime.

In a report by Global Financial Integrity, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank that produces analysis of illicit finances, the researchers calculated that illicit drug revenue smuggled by fishing vessels around the world amounted to $80 billion a year, or about 15 percent of the $426 billion to $652 billion yearly revenue brought in by drugs worldwide.

Belhabib estimates that an individual vessel can bring in up to $70 million worth of drugs in a single shipment. But her team also found that the average size of an individual shipment is getting smaller over time, even as the overall amount of drugs shipped by these vessels is increasing. What this means in practice is that traffickers are splitting larger shipments so if one boat is caught by authorities, the traffickers don’t lose as much.. This small-boat strategy is particularly adaptable for cartels, she says. “They have multiple strategies to avoid getting caught and multiple strategies to lower the risk of losing a lot if they do get caught,” Belhabib says.

As opposed to what was previously surmised about drug smuggling’s connection to illegal fishing, Belhabib’s research didn’t show much of a link. She believes that traffickers might see vessels with clean records as less likely to get searched by law enforcement than high-risk, repeat offenders. Or that fishing enforcement officers may be missing the elephant in the room, as many fisheries law agents are trained to look for illegal catch rather than hidden drugs. “To be honest I think it’s a mixture of both,” she says.

Aldo Chircop , Canada Research Chair in maritime law and policy at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia who was not involved in Belhabib’s study, says that the international community has trouble enough policing large vessels in international waters. But the monitoring and policing of small fishing boats is nearly impossible, even in a relatively rich country like Canada. He says that larger vessels fishing in North Atlantic waters often carry official observers, but small boats carry aren’t subject to that much oversight. While small boats may be occasionally subject to fisheries inspections, these officers aren’t trained to look for drugs. “I can understand how this might slip under the radar,” Chircop says. “Even providing basic search and rescue support for these vessels is a real challenge.”

The use of recreational yachts adds to the porousness of maritime borders, especially since private yachts and small fishing boats often come into all types of small ports lacking the type of monitoring occurring at the bigger harbors. “[Small fishing boats] are the vast majority of fishing vessels out there,” Chircop said. “They could easily be taking a load out from beyond the [national] territory at sea.”

Okafor-Yarwood says that the work highlights some of the same things she’s noticed in her research. But she has observed overlap in west African waters between drug trafficking and fishing crimes. “In the Gulf of Guinea, I’ve seen cases where trawlers are used to transport drugs, but they also engage in illegal fishing,” she says. “Absolutely, 100 percent there is overlap.”

She says that fishing vessels involved in trafficking are increasingly being paid in drugs rather than in cash, and they often sell the drugs back to the local coastal communities where they live to turn a profit. “Coastal residents become hopeless prey in the hands of the drug dealers,” she says.

In some regions, drug trafficking can still usher in illegal fishing indirectly, Belhabib says. They also analyzed the data they collected from media and other sources to look for region-specific patterns and trends around the world. The study showed traffickers using fishing vessels to transport drugs in global hotspots such as the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean for cocaine; East Africa for heroin; the sea between Morocco and Spain for marijuana; and the South China Sea for methamphetamines. In the latter case, she says that vessels might occupy themselves with illegal fishing on their return journeys from smuggling operations. In some Mexican marine protected areas, drug trafficking activity is so prevalent that park officials scared of cartel violence won’t even go into the waters, allowing fishing vessels to break the law and fish there with relative impunity. “It threatens conservation efforts,” Belhabib said.

Belhabib notes that the small-time fishers who transport large quantities of drugs likely aren’t seeing much of the profits. Most small fishing boats that turn to drug trafficking do so because fishers have a lack of other options when local fish stocks dry up, she says. The creation of marine protected areas can also be a problem if it’s done in such a way as to leave local fishers out of jobs.

Okafor-Yarwood says that in the Gulf of Guinea, polluted waters are also ruining the fish stocks, which leaves fishers more susceptible to working with drug traffickers. For her, enhancing the livelihood of coastal communities is an important way to buffer against more trafficking.

But better laws, and better enforcement of existing laws, is also key. Many of the countries prone to trafficking are often poor and lack the resources to police their waters. Rashid Sumaila , a professor in oceans and fisheries at the University of British Columbia in Canada who was not involved in Belhabib’s study, says that in the Gulf of Guinea each of the 16 countries that shares the bay manages their own waters. But if the countries banded together to police the waters, they might be able to afford a more effective coast guard.

Sumaila links the lack of policing to the larger problem. He thinks Belhabib’s study is a great addition to the literature on illegal activities at sea. Illegal fishing may not be happening on the same vessels trafficking drugs. But illegal fishing by vessels bearing foreign flags can deplete the stocks of poorer countries less capable of policing their own waters, which indirectly makes those local fishing communities more vulnerable to traffickers and the money they offer. Sumaila and Belhabib both point to the famous case of pirates in Somalia, noting pirates there were former fishermen until foreign fishing vessels illegally depleted local stocks.

“It’s not saying that fishermen are inherent criminals,” says Belhabib, “but some small fishermen have no choices.”

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Joshua Rapp Learn | | READ MORE

Joshua Rapp Learn is a D.C.-based journalist who writes about science, culture and the environment. He has crossed the Sahara Desert, floated down the Amazon River and explored in more than 50 countries.

The deadly secret of China's invisible armada

Desperate North Korean fishermen are washing ashore as skeletons because of the world's largest illegal fleet.

Chinese fishing vessels moored off of Ulleung Island, South Korea. (Fábio Nascimento)

By Ian Urbina July 22, 2020

OFF THE COAST OF SOUTH KOREA — The battered wooden “ghost boats” drift through the Sea of Japan for months, their only cargo the corpses of starved North Korean fishermen whose bodies have been reduced to skeletons. Last year more than 150 of these macabre vessels washed ashore in Japan, and there have been more than 500 in the past five years.

For years the grisly phenomenon mystified Japanese police, whose best guess was that climate change pushed the squid population farther from North Korea, driving the country’s desperate fishermen dangerous distances from shore, where they become stranded and die from exposure. 

But an NBC News investigation, based on new satellite data, has revealed what marine researchers now say is a more likely explanation: China is sending a previously invisible armada of industrial boats to illegally fish in North Korean waters, violently displacing smaller North Korean boats and spearheading a decline in once-abundant squid stocks of more than 70 percent. 

The Chinese vessels — nearly 800 in 2019 — appear to be in violation of  U.N. sanctions that forbid foreign fishing in North Korean waters. The sanctions, imposed in 2017 in response to the country’s nuclear tests, were intended to punish North Korea by not allowing it to sell fishing rights in its waters in exchange for valuable foreign currency. 

“This is the largest known case of illegal fishing perpetrated by a single industrial fleet operating in another nation’s waters,” said Jaeyoon Park, a data scientist from Global Fishing Watch , a global ocean conservation nonprofit group co-founded by Google, based in Washington. The group specializes in artificial intelligence and satellites that, along with an international team of academic researchers, discovered the Chinese fleet. 

Presence of satellite-detected vessels fishing in North Korean waters in 2018

A satellite-detected vessel

Evidence of sanctions violations

China is a member of the U.N. Security Council, which unanimously signed the recent North Korean sanctions. But the flotilla violating this ban makes up nearly a third of the entire Chinese distant-water fishing fleet, according to Global Fishing Watch.

When asked to comment on the investigation, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that “China has consistently and conscientiously enforced the resolutions of the Security Council relating to North Korea.” The ministry added that China has “consistently punished” illegal fishing, but it neither admitted nor denied sending its boats into North Korean waters.

In March, two countries anonymously complained in a report to the United Nations about China’s violations of these sanctions and they provided evidence of the crimes, including satellite imagery of the Chinese ships fishing in North Korean waters and testimony from a Chinese fishing crew who said it had alerted their government of its plans to fish in North Korean waters. 

The fishing grounds in the Sea of Japan, known in the Koreas as the East Sea, are between the Koreas, Japan and Russia, and include some of the world’s most contested and poorly monitored waters. Up to now, the huge presence of Chinese boats in this area was largely hidden, because their captains routinely turn off their transponders, making them invisible to on-land authorities. In most jurisdictions, this act is illegal.

Global Fishing Watch and its partner researchers were able to document these vessels, however, using several types of satellite technology, including one that spots bright lights at night. Many squid boats use extremely strong lights to draw their prey nearer to the ocean surface, making the squid easier to catch. The Chinese also use what are called “pair trawlers,” which consist of two side-by-side boats with a net strung between them that combs the seas, which are easier to track by satellite since the two travel together.

In addition, some of the ships in this study kept their Automatic Identification System (AIS) transponders turned on as they entered North Korean waters.

SHUNFA988 and SHUNFA998 are among many side-by-side "pair trawlers" confirmed by Global Fishing Watch. By analyzing each ship’s Automatic Identification System (AIS) signal and overlaying the daytime optical images, it was possible to detect that these two vessels were engaged in fishing activities in North Korean waters between May and June 2018.

This map shows the routes for these two vessels from the end of April to July, 2018, which is when the annual fishing ban was in place in Chinese waters. Satellite identifiers captured a total of 120 signals in North Korean waters from those pair trawlers.

Planet Labs, Inc.

‘Widows villages’ in North Korea

So many North Koreans have disappeared at sea in recent years that some North Korean port towns, including Chongjin along the country’s eastern shore, are now called “widows’ villages.” Over the past two years, more than 50 bodies of North Koreans washed onto Japanese beaches, according to the Japanese Coast Guard. 

The grim uptick of these ghost boats washing ashore has stoked paranoia and inflamed a tense history between Japan and North Korea, leading some in Japan to speculate that the ghost boats are carrying spies, thieves or possibly even weaponized carriers of contagious disease. 

“If a Korean ship lost its way, it would be destroyed by the time it lands on our beaches,” said Kazuhiro Araki, CEO of the Abduction Research Organization, a fringe group that studies the history of hundreds of Japanese citizens who were allegedly kidnapped by North Korea in the 1970s and ՚80s. “But some ships arrived to our coast intact, and with no men on board, and it’s possible those people are spies who made it to land.”

A wooden boat, which drifted ashore with eight partially skeletal bodies, was found by the Japanese Coast Guard in Oga, Akita Prefecture, Japan, on Nov. 27, 2017. (Kyodo via Reuters file)

A fishing boat of unknown nationality with squid drying on the roof off the Noto Peninsula of Japan on Oct. 7, 2019. (The Yomiuri Shimbun via AP file)

Japanese police officers investigate a wooden boat marked with Korean lettering on Sado island, Japan, on Nov. 28, 2012. Five bodies were found on the boat, which washed up on rocks by a beach on the island. (Kyodo via Reuters file)

A wooden boat in front of a breakwater in Yurihonjo, Japan on Nov. 24, 2017. It washed ashore carrying eight men claiming to be from North Korea. (Kyodo via Reuters file)

This is not a mainstream conclusion, however, and the more probable explanation is that these Koreans are just poorly equipped fishermen taking desperate risks and venturing too far from shore, according to Jung-Sam Lee, a scholar at the Korea Maritime Institute and one of the authors of the new research for Global Fishing Watch. After being battered by typhoons or stranded by engine failure, the fishermen are being carried by the Tsushima current that runs north-eastward up the west coast of Japan, he said.

Encrusted with shells and algae, these flat-bottom wooden boats are 15 to 20 feet long and typically carry five to 10 men. They have no toilets or beds, just small jugs of clean water, fishing nets and tackle, according to Japanese Coast Guard investigation reports. They fly tattered North Korean flags and their hulls are often emblazoned with painted numbers or markings in Korean script including, "State Security Department" and "Korean People's Army." 

All of the bodies found on board these ghost boats appear to be male, though some were so badly decomposed that Japanese investigators struggled to say for sure. Political tensions between the countries and a lack of transparency in the “hermit state” of North Korea make it difficult to get an official explanation of the phenomenon.

Fishing boats as warships

In 2004, China signed a multimillion-dollar fishing license agreement with North Korea that led to a drastic increase in the number of Chinese boats in North Korean waters. But international sanctions imposed in 2017 in response to North Korea's intercontinental ballistic missile launches and nuclear tests were meant to squeeze key sources of North Korean revenue.

A long-time benefactor of North Korea, China signed the sanctions after being pressured by the United States, and in August 2017 China’s minister of commerce publicly reiterated his government’s commitment to enforce these new rules.

Seafood remains North Korea's sixth-biggest export, and in recent speeches the country’s dictator, Kim Jong Un, has pushed the state-owned seafood industry to increase its haul. 

"Fish are like bullets and artillery shells," an editorial in the Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, said in 2017. "Fishing boats are like warships, protecting the people and the motherland."

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits a fish processing facility in North Korea, in this undated picture released by North Korea's Central News Agency (KCNA) on Nov. 18, 2019. (KCNA via Reuters file)

In the wake of the U.N. sanctions and as foreign currency reserves have dwindled, the North Korean government has tried to bolster its fishing industry by turning soldiers into fishermen, dispatching these poorly trained seafarers onto notoriously turbulent waters. The sanctions have also intensified North Korea’s gasoline shortage. Japanese investigators say that some of the Korean fishing boats washing onto Japanese beaches suffered from engine failure or simply ran out of fuel.

Since 2013, at least 50 survivors have been rescued from these dilapidated boats, but in interviews with Japanese police, the men rarely say more than that they were stranded at sea and that they want to be returned home to North Korea. Autopsies on the bodies found on these boats usually indicate that the men died of starvation, hypothermia or dehydration. 

In 2013, North Korean fishermen were limited by the capacity of their 12-horsepower engines and typically traveled only several dozen miles from land, said a former North Korean fisherman, who defected to South Korea in 2016 and now lives in Seoul. 

“Government pressure is greater now, and there are 38-horsepower engines,” said the defector, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions for his family. “People are more desperate and they can go farther from shore.”

But marine researchers say that pressure from the North Korean government is not the only factor. 

“Competition from the industrial Chinese trawlers is likely displacing the North Korean fishers, pushing them into neighboring Russian waters,” said Jung-Sam Lee, the scholar whose institute also found that hundreds of North Korean vessels fished illegally in Russian waters in 2018.

In 2017, the Japanese Coast Guard also reported spotting more than 2,000 North Korean fishing boats fishing illegally in their waters. In more than 300 instances, the Japanese Coast Guard used water cannons to force these boats to leave the area.

A Japanese Coast Guard patrol vessel approaches a North Korean fishing boat to warn them to leave the waters near Yamatotai, Japan in late May 2019. (Japan Coast Guard via AP file)

Ranked worst for illegal fishing

Around the globe, many kinds of fish and sea creatures are disappearing at an unsustainable rate due to climate change, overfishing and illegal fishing by industrial fleets. As these fishing stocks shrink, competition grows and offshore clashes between fishing nations become more common. Seafood-loving countries like Japan and South Korea are being edged out by growing fleets from Taiwan, Vietnam and, most of all, China. 

China accounted for about 15 percent of total global fishing captures in 2018, more than the total captures of the second- and third-ranked countries combined, according to the U.N. Fisheries agency . Many of the fishing stocks closest to China’s shores have collapsed from overfishing and industrialization, which is why the Chinese government heavily subsidizes its fishermen, who sail the world in search of new grounds. 

Fishing fleets from China accounted for 50 to 70 percent of the squid caught on the high seas in recent years, according to an estimate by the Chinese ­government. Often these boats are fishing illegally in other countries’ national waters, according to an unpublished analysis by C4ADS, a marine research firm. According to another index published last year by fishing and global crime experts, China has the world’s worst score when it comes to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.

The Sea of Japan includes disputed patches of water where the surrounding countries — Russia, Japan and the two Koreas — do not recognize one another’s sea borders. The incursion of the Chinese in this region has only intensified local tensions. 

Chinese fishing boats are famously aggressive, often armed and known for ramming competitors or foreign patrol vessels, according to U.S. Navy officials and maritime security specialists. Chinese media often depict the country’s maritime clashes with other nearby Asian nations as an extension of ancient China's Three Kingdoms, which fought a fierce three-way battle for supremacy.

Tensions between Seoul and Beijing increased in 2016 after a Chinese vessel, illegally fishing in South Korean waters, sank a South Korean Coast Guard cutter . The cutter was in South Korean waters and was trying to stop a Chinese fishing ship that allegedly had been caught fishing illegally when it was rear-ended by another Chinese ship. 

Similarly, while reporting at sea for this investigation in South Korean waters, reporters for this article filmed 10 of these illegal Chinese fishing ships crossing into North Korean waters. However, the reporting team was forced to divert its course to avoid a collision after one of the Chinese fishing captains suddenly swerved toward the team’s boat, coming within 10 meters (nearly 11 yards), apparently in an attempt to ward off the boat. 

Spotted at night and roughly 100 miles from shore, the Chinese squid ships would not respond to radio calls and were traveling with their transponders off.

The collapse of the squid

A yearly migratory species, the so-called Pacific Flying Squid spawn in waters near the southeastern port city of Busan or off South Korea's southernmost island of Jeju. They swim north in the spring before returning south to their birthplace between July and September. 

In 2017 and 2018, the illegal Chinese boats, which are typically about 10 times larger than North Korean boats, caught as much of the squid as Japan and South Korea combined — an estimated 160,000 tons, worth more than $440 million annually, according to research published in the journal Science Advances . 

Marine researchers fear a full collapse of this squid colony, which has declined in South Korean and Japanese waters by more than 70 percent, since 2003. 

The Chinese fleet is a primary culprit of this precipitous drop because, in targeting North Korea waters, these industrial boats are catching the squid before they grow big enough to procreate, said Park, the scientist from Global Fishing Watch. 

Since Chinese authorities do not make their fishing licenses public, Global Fishing Watch said that there is no way to verify that all of the ships entering North Korean waters were authorized by the Chinese government. However the organization corroborated that the vessels were of Chinese origin through various other sources of information. 

Among these corroborating sources were transponder and other types of radio transmissions; records from South Korean Coast Guard officials who routinely board and inspect fishing ships on their way into North Korean waters; data showing that the ships had departed from Chinese ports or waters that are strictly limited to Chinese vessels; records indicating the use of distinctly Chinese-type gear or ship design; and satellite information showing that the ships previously fished in Chinese waters that are closely policed and forbidden to foreign ships. 

All of the roughly two dozen fishing ships that the NBC News reporting team witnessed heading into North Korean waters were flying Chinese flags. 

“When they come, they take over,” said Kim Byeong Su, the governor of Ulleung island, in the East Sea about 75 miles east of the Korean Peninsula. A tiny spit of land belonging to South Korea, Ulleung is the closest port to the North Korean fishing grounds. 

Chinese fleets anchored in Sadong port, Ulleung-do, South Korea due to bad weather in North Korean waters on Dec. 6, 2016. There are two types of boats shown: shorter trawlers and longer, higher lighting boats. (Ulleung-gun County Office)

Kim said that the Chinese squid boats have decimated the island’s two primary sources of income, tourism and fishing. In the Jeodong market near the pier, rows of the squid are draped across lines like folded laundry as they sun-dry into fish jerky. Squid sellers estimated that the per-pound cost of squid is roughly three times what it was less than five years ago. 

Most of the island’s men older than 40 are squid fishermen, but a third of them are now unemployed because of the decline in stock, the mayor said. That a creature so central to the local culture could disappear has shaken this community, whose identity has been defined by squid fishing for centuries. 

Historically, most of Ulleung’s restaurants served fried, dried or raw squid as a free appetizer, but these dishes are now absent from many menus. 

Local animosity toward the Chinese fleet is made only worse, the mayor said, when bad weather strikes a few times a year and an armada of more than 200 Chinese squid boats arrive simultaneously to Ulleung’s port to ride out the storm. The governor said he is powerless to tell them to leave. 

They dump oil, throw litter, run loud, smoky generators all night and drag their anchors when leaving, destroying the island’s fresh water pipes, he said. 

“The outside world," Kim said, "needs to know what’s happening here."

Ian Urbina, a former investigative reporter for The New York Times, is the director of The Outlaw Ocean Project , a non-profit journalism organization based in Washington that focuses on reporting about environmental and human rights crimes at sea.

Graphics and development by Jiachuan Wu; Photo editing by Elise Wrabetz; Video by Marshall Crook

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Fisherman Pleads Guilty to Illegal Fishing, Offers New Boat as Restitution

May 05, 2021

In unprecedented case, Bahamian officials receive new boat to help prevent illegal fishing.

On May 6, 2021, Henry J. Danzig of Tavernier, Florida, was sentenced  to one year probation and a substantial payment of restitution to the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.

He was sentenced for illegally harvesting commercial quantities of reef fish from Bahamian waters. The reef fish were harvested near Cay Sal Bank, in The Bahamas, and transported back to the United States in violation of the Lacey Act.

Danzig and four other individuals were intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard outside of Tavernier, Florida in May 2020 while returning from Bahamian waters. The Coast Guard escorted the vessel back to Danzig’s waterfront home. Together with Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission officers, they determined that Danzig and company were in possession of 167 reef fish. They harvested the fish in Bahamian waters without a valid Bahamian sportfishing license, and without first clearing Bahamian Customs. Even if Danzig had followed the rules, his catch was still nearly eight times over the legal Bahamian bag limit. The Coast Guard seized and transferred custody of the fish to NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement, who began an investigation. OLE special agents later seized two GPS units from Danzig’s 39-foot Contender fishing vessel named Bodacious.

Danzig was charged with, and pleaded guilty to, trafficking 529 pounds of illegally harvested fish from The Bahamas back to the United States. Danzig’s plea agreement outlined a restitution payment to The Bahamas in the form of a new 2021 30-foot Contender vessel. 

“This case is a double win for The Bahamas and the United States,” said Chargé d'affaires Usha E. Pitts, U.S. Embassy in The Bahamas. “Not only did our two countries collaborate to confiscate fish harvested illegally, the case resulted in the transfer of a brand new vessel that the Royal Bahamas Defense Force can use to prevent illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing in the future. We will continue to work with our Bahamian partners to promote responsibility and accountability in Bahamian waters by all fishing vessels.”

Unfortunately, this kind of violation is not uncommon. “Many fishermen from the United States choose to fish in Bahamian waters due to its close proximity,” said Manny Antonaras, Assistant Director of NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement, Southeast Division. “We want to make sure that they do so legally.” 

How to Legally Fish in the Bahamas

Bahamian waters near southeast Florida begin at the end of the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone. Generally, if you are south or east of the EEZ limit line, you are considered to be within the waters of the Bahamas and subject to Bahamian laws and regulations .

Learn more about the U.S. EEZ limit line location

Here are some simple steps to lawfully fish in Bahamian waters:

• If you use the new Click2Clear online system, you may electronically declare entry at a Bahamian port-of-entry and pay for your cruising permit. You must still physically arrive at that port to obtain authenticated documents from Bahamian Customs. Filing and paying for the permit in advance does not authorize formal entry into or fishing in The Bahamas .
• You can obtain your authenticated fishing permit at your port of entry.
• Once you have an authenticated fishing permit, you must operate within the prescribed Bahamian fisheries regulations. Note that your authenticated documents must be available for inspection.
• When leaving The Bahamas, you must declare exit at a port of entry. Bahamian Customs will provide an authenticated certificate of departure.  
• U.S. vessels may not fish in Bahamian waters after obtaining exit clearance from Bahamian Customs (i.e., on the way home).

For more information, you may contact Bahamian Customs , or The Bahamas Consulate General’s Office in Miami, Florida.

It is important for U.S. fishermen to be aware of the overlapping jurisdictions involved when bringing back fish from The Bahamas. First, fishermen are subject to Bahamian Customs and Fisheries law. If out of compliance, they could face possible Lacey Act violations. Second, they are subject to possession limit laws in the U.S. portion of the EEZ. Lastly, fishermen are subject to state possession laws in Florida waters (0-3 nautical miles in the Atlantic, 0-9 nautical miles in the Gulf). 

Tips for Planning a Bahamian Fishing Trip

The requirement to clear Bahamian customs applies to all U.S. fishing vessels, regardless of whether they are embarking on a single- or multi-day  trip. “When making day trips it can be tempting to run over and not take the time to clear,” said George Poveromo, renowned saltwater angler, writer, and TV host. “Invest two hours and be 100 percent legal.”

“Don’t open yourself up to any problems,” said Poveromo. “You can usually leave the inlet at 6:00 or 7:00 AM and you’re waiting on customs to open up. Once you are properly cleared, you have all day to fish and can still get back home at dusk with enough light to come into the inlet.”

Preparation and knowledge are key before throwing your lines off. “Start in advance,” said Poveromo. “I fill out all my passengers’ information ahead of time and before we even clear the inlet all the necessary paperwork is good and we can run to the Bahamas.”

If you fail to follow the requirements you can be prosecuted for violations of both Bahamian and U.S. law. In The Bahamas, you can be fined up to $100,000, sent to prison for three years, or both. Under the U.S. Lacey Act, you can be fined up to $250,000, sent to prison for five years, or both. 

To avoid these penalties, it is important that you understand and follow all relevant Bahamian, U.S. federal and state laws and regulations. Know before you go!

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When fishing boats go dark at sea, they’re often committing crimes – we mapped where it happens

Researcher in Ecosystem Dynamics, University of California, Santa Cruz

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Heather Welch received funding from Catena and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of Law Enforcement for this work.

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In January 2019, the Korean-flagged fishing vessel Oyang 77 sailed south toward international waters off Argentina. The vessel had a known history of nefarious activities , including underreporting its catch and illegally dumping low-value fish to make room in its hold for more lucrative catch.

At 2 a.m. on Jan. 10, the Oyang 77 turned off its location transponder at the edge of Argentina’s exclusive economic zone – a political boundary that divides Argentina’s national waters from international waters, or the high seas. At 9 p.m. on Jan. 11, the Oyang 77 turned its transponder back on and reappeared on the high seas. For the 19 hours when the ship was dark, no information was available about where it had gone or what it did.

In a study published in Nov. 2022, I worked with colleagues at Global Fishing Watch , a nonprofit that works to advance ocean governance by increasing transparency of human activity at sea, to show that these periods of missing transponder data actually contain useful information on where ships go and what they do. And authorities like the International Maritime Organization can use this missing data to help combat illegal activities at sea, such as overfishing and exploiting workers on fishing boats.

Illegal fishing causes economic losses estimated at $US10 billion to $25 billion annually . It also has been linked to human rights violations, such as forced labor and human trafficking . Better information about how often boats go dark at sea can help governments figure out where and when these activities may be taking place.

Going dark at sea

The high seas are the modern world’s Wild West – a vast expanse of water far from oversight and authority, where outlaws engage in illegal activities like unauthorized fishing and human trafficking . Surveillance there is aided by location transponders, called the Automatic Identification System , or AIS, which works like the Find My iPhone app .

Just as thieves can turn off phone location tracking, ships can disable their AIS transponders, effectively hiding their activities from oversight. Often it’s unclear whether going dark in this way is legal. AIS requirements are based on many factors, including vessel size, what country the vessel is flagged to, its location in the ocean and what species its crew is trying to catch.

A ship that disables its AIS transponder disappears from the view of whomever may be watching, including authorities, scientists and other vessels. For our study, we reviewed data from two private companies that combine AIS data with other signals to track assets at sea. Spire is a constellation of nanosatellites that pick up AIS signals to increase visibility of vessels in remote areas of the world. Orbcomm tracks ships, trucks and other heavy equipment using internet-enabled devices. Then, we used machine learning models to understand what drove vessels to disable their AIS devices.

Examining where and how often such episodes occurred between 2017 and 2019, we found that ships disabled their transponders for around 1.6 million hours each year. This represented roughly 6% of global fishing vessel activity, which as a result is not reflected in global tallies of what types of fish are being caught where.

Vessels frequently went dark on the high-seas edge of exclusive economic zone boundaries, which can obscure illegal fishing in unauthorized locations. That’s what the Oyang 77 was doing in January 2019.

Laundering illegal catch

The AIS data we reviewed showed that the Oyang 77 disabled its AIS transponder a total of nine times during January and February 2019. Each time, it went dark at the edge of Argentinean national waters and reappeared several days later back on the high seas.

During the ninth disabling event, the vessel was spotted fishing without permission in Argentina’s waters , where the Argentinean coast guard intercepted it and escorted it to the port of Comodoro Rivadavia. The vessel’s owners were later fined for illegally fishing in Argentina’s national waters, and their fishing gear was confiscated .

AIS disabling is also strongly correlated with transshipment events – exchanging catch, personnel and supplies between fishing vessels and refrigerated cargo vessels, or “reefers,” at sea. Reefers also have AIS transponders, and researchers can use their data to identify loitering events , when reefers are in one place long enough to receive cargo from a fishing vessel.

It’s not unusual to see fishing vessels disable their AIS transponders near loitering reefers, which suggests that they want to hide these transfers from oversight. While transferring people or cargo can be legal, when it is poorly monitored it can become a means of laundering illegal catch. It has been linked to forced labor and human trafficking .

Valid reasons to turn off transponders

Making it illegal for vessels to disable AIS transponders might seem like an obvious solution to this problem. But just as people may have legitimate reasons for not wanting the government to monitor their phones, fishing vessels may have legitimate reasons not to want their movements monitored.

Many vessels disable their transponders in high-quality fishing grounds to hide their activities from competitors. Although the ocean is huge, certain species and fishing methods are highly concentrated. For example, bottom trawlers fish by dragging nets along the seafloor and can operate only over continental shelves where the bottom is shallow enough for their gear to reach.

Modern-day pirates also use AIS data to intercept and attack vessels. In response, ships frequently disable their transponders in historically dangerous waters of the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Guinea . Making AIS disabling illegal would leave fishing vessels more vulnerable to piracy.

Instead, in my view, researchers and maritime authorities can use these AIS disabling events to make inferences about which vessels are behaving illegally.

Our study reveals that AIS disabling near exclusive economic zones and loitering reefers is a risk factor for unauthorized fishing and transshipments. At sea, real-time data on where vessels disable their AIS transponders or change their apparent position using fake GPS coordinates could be used to focus patrols on illegal activities near political boundaries or in transshipment hot spots. Port authorities could also use this information onshore to target the most suspect vessels for inspection.

President Joe Biden signed a national security memorandum in 2022 pledging U.S. support for combating illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and associated labor abuses. Our study points toward a strategy for using phases when ships go dark to fight illegal activities at sea.

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August 6, 2018

Blowing Up Illegal Fishing Boats Helps Indonesian Fishers

The extreme practice could put the island nation’s fish catch on a path toward sustainability

By Michael Tennesen

Indonesian Navy blows up 6 foreign fishing vessel caught fishing illegally on October 31, 2015 in Batam, Indonesia.

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Indonesia, one of the world’s leading producers of tuna, decided several years ago it had had enough of illegal foreign fishing boats entering its exclusive economic zone and taking an average of $4 billion a year in fisheries profits. In 2014 the Southeast Asian nation—a vast archipelago of more than 13,000 islands—imposed a one-year moratorium on fishing vessels built abroad, in order to evaluate their impact.

During the moratorium officials discovered boats disguising foreign ownership under local names, falsifying Indonesian fishing permits or using the same permit for multiple boats. This evidence augmented other reports of foreign vessels underreporting the sizes of their boats, avoiding taxes and intruding in waters reserved for local small-scale fishers.

To address the problem, Indonesia created a task force consisting of the country’s navy, marine police, coast guard and attorney general’s office. Task force members started out by aggressively capturing illegal foreign boats and deporting their crews. Then, to drive the point home, they cut, torched or dynamited holes in bottoms of the boats—sending hundreds of vessels to the seafloor to join the fishes they had sought. According to Mas Achmad Santosa, special advisor to the Indonesia Presidential Task Force to Combatting Illegal Fishing, “We sank 363 illegal fishing vessels to send a signal of strong enforcement and to create a deterrent effect.”

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This immediately drew international media attention, and Indonesian minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Susi Pudjiastuti traveled the world and appeared in YouTube videos defending her country’s aggressive strategy.

Yet has all this drama done any good when it comes to protecting the world’s troubled fish stocks? A group of fisheries experts from Indonesia and the U.S. has now analyzed catch results and fisheries models in Indonesian waters (its exclusive economic zone). The study, published in April in Nature Ecology & Evolution , found total commercial fishing shrunk by 25 percent following Indonesia’s explosive enforcement efforts against foreign boats. This followed an earlier finding, reported in 2016 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , which showed a 15 percent reduction in catch could put fisheries on a trajectory toward sustainability. “Instead of putting the pressure on local legal fishers to recover fisheries, the Indonesian government put their attention on foreign illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, which is a huge problem in Indonesia," says postdoctoral researcher Reniel Cabral at the University of California, Santa Barbara, lead author of the new study. Applying this strategy in other countries could generate similar long-lasting results in many other regions of the world, the researchers concluded.

The earlier PNAS study had postulated an initial short-term reduction in fishing pressure could return fisheries to sustainable yields. But countries have been reluctant to impose such restrictions on normal catches for local fishing communities; the study defined “short-term” as an average of 10 years of catching far fewer fishes—a highly unpopular prospect for local fishermen and their families. Cabral refers to such measures as the “valley of death” for politicians and community leaders.

Determining the length of quarantine necessary to produce sustainability in future fish stocks had been the goal of the PNAS paper, a massive study of 4,713 fisheries representing 78 percent of the global reported fish catch. From the results, scientists projected the percentages by which fishers would have to reduce their catches of targeted species in order for the fishery to become sustainable. The science behind those reductions was also applied in a March 2018 Science paper that examined 20 marine mammal, bird and sea turtle populations. That study found that if fishing was curtailed in close proximity to those animals—again for an average of 10 years—not only would the fisheries recover, but so could these rarer species, which were mostly caught accidentally.

To determine if Indonesia’s enforcement efforts had worked, Cabral's recent study looked at the skipjack tuna fishery—the largest in Indonesia. These fishers work at night using special lights to lure their catch, and researchers analyzed data from the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership satellite to identify their boats. Team members correlated this information with automatic identification system (AIS) data (processed via an online monitoring project called Global Fishing Watch) from onboard signals that identify and track positions of ships at sea to avoid collisions. The team also examined boat identification data from the country's vessel monitoring system (VMS) , which licensed boats are required to use in Indonesian waters. Models were then used to project future growth. The results showed the total of all commercial fishing in Indonesia—legal and illegal—shrunk by 25 percent after the country started sinking boats

The Indonesian enforcement effort looked not only at the number of illegal fishing boats, but also their sizes. Cabral’s team recorded a 40 percent reduction in fishing effort by boat weight. In other words, it was the really big foreign-built fishing boats (greater than 100 metric tons) that did the most damage to fish stocks. The Indonesian government is currently planning to build more than 3,300 new boats for its local fishers. These boats will have a much smaller size distribution than the foreign boats they replace; thus the total fishing effort should decline despite the addition of new boats. But Cabral cautions the domestic fisheries need to be contained as well, lest they dim prospects for sustainability. “There’s room for expansion but not uncontrolled growth,” he says. “Fisheries expansion requires that management be in place before sustainable limits are reached.” In the U.S. the Magnuson–Stevens Act in 1976 virtually wiped out all illegal fishing activity by foreign vessels. Overinvestment in U.S. domestic fishing capacity, however, prevented many stocks from recovering. Subsequent revisions have set most U.S. fisheries on a trajectory toward long-term growth without compromising the needs of future generations.

Since Indonesia implemented its boat-sinking policy, its ranking in the list of (legally and illegally) most-fished nations by foreign boats dropped from 13th in 2014 to below 80th in 2015 and 2016. This reduction has persisted despite the increase in distant water fishing (fishing in international waters or other countries' exclusive economic zones) that is currently happening across most of the world. Meanwhile Indonesia's seafood export volume in 2017 increased by 7 percent compared with 2016, and export value increased 17 percent during the same period. “The fish are getting closer to the shore and can be harvested by our fishermen to sustain their livelihoods,” Santosa says.

Some researchers remain skeptical of the attention given to Indonesia’s rather extreme methods, however. “So you go into Indonesia and you sink a bunch of boats, and you send all these people home,” says James Estes, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. “What are they going to do? Is that really going to solve the problem or are they [illicit fishers] just going to go somewhere else?”

It is likely they will indeed seek out areas where enforcement is weak. But Cabral’s study shows a country does not have to starve the local fishing community to achieve sustainability.

Farmers, fishers flag biosecurity threat as illegal boat numbers surge off WA's Kimberley coast

By Joanna Prendergast

By Alys Marshall

By Hannah Murphy

Topic: Fishing and Aquaculture Industry

Rubbish, abandoned campsites and reported sightings of illegal fishers off Western Australia's north coast have sparked concerns that serious animal diseases could slip into the state's $3-billion livestock industry.

Key points:

• Industry groups are calling for harsh measures to be taken to deter illegal fishers
• Australian fishers believe there are significantly more illegal arrivals than authorities are detecting
• The agriculture industry says diseases could go undetected if they arrive in a remote area

Fishers working in remote waters off the Kimberley say illegal Indonesian fishers are regularly landing on the Australian mainland, harvesting sea cucumbers with trawl nets and leaving litter on beaches and the sea floor.

An Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) spokeswoman said the authority had recorded 211 foreign fishing vessels intercepted in WA waters since the beginning of the year, but many fishers who regularly work off the northern coast believe the number of arrivals could be much higher.

Vansittart Bay sea cucumber fisher Corrie Mcintosh said he was regularly finding noodle packets and water bottles with Indonesian writing strewn on the usually pristine beaches.

He said the amount of rubbish he was finding was increasing and led him to believe many fishers had regular contact with the Australian mainland.

Rubbish found in the water at Vansittart Bay. ( Supplied: Corrie Mcintosh )

"A lot of it is very new, and some of it is disintegrated — the effort has been widespread for quite a while out there," Mr Mcintosh said.

"It's pretty daunting knowing that they can get in and land on Australia undetected.

"It's almost laughable now — it's been going on for a while, there's been reports put in.

"Without pointing the finger, it's like it's fallen on deaf ears."

In April, 11 Indonesian fishers were rescued from the Rowley Shoals off the Kimberley coast after Cyclone Ilsa destroyed their boat.

They were shipwrecked for six days without food or water.

AFMA said at the time it would not attempt to prosecute the men for illegally entering Australian waters.

Last month, 12 people were found in a remote part of WA after travelling by boat from Indonesia.

It is not known at this stage if they were fishers or asylum seekers, but without proper controls both groups could pose a biosecurity threat .

Australian sea cucumber sells for about $350 per kilogram. ( ABC Midwest & Wheatbelt: Chris Lewis )

'More than we hear about'

On his most recent fishing trip to Vansittart Bay, Mr Mcintosh saw an illegal fishing crew.

"Where they were fishing they were touching the mainland, they were working on the mainland," he said.

Mr Mcintosh and his crew followed the boat and were able to see dragnets that they suspected were used to catch sea cucumbers.

"There's lots of reports of a number of boats in one fishing operation, up to four or five boats fishing the mainland, walking the mud flats, camping and living ashore," he said.

"It's a lot more than we are hearing about.

"[Border Force] are doing the best they can now that they're there.

"There's probably not been enough resources thrown at this issue."

Australia is free of several livestock diseases present in Indonesia, but experts say it would not take much for that to change. ( ABC Mid West Wheatbelt: Jo Prendergast  )

'It takes just one germ'

It is not just those involved in aquaculture who are concerned about the impacts of unregulated fishers.

The Kimberley Pilbara Cattlemen's Association (KPCA) said the biosecurity risk illegal fishers posed was cause for concern.

"We're very concerned particularly with the nearness of both foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) and lumpy skin disease (LSD) in our near-neighbours," chief executive Bron Christensen said.

FMD is extremely contagious in livestock and can be carried on footwear and clothing, as well as in food.

LSD is spread primarily via biting insects.

Indonesia is responding to widespread outbreaks of both diseases and an outbreak of either could  cost Australia billions .

Rubbish discovered at a suspected illegal fishing camp last year. ( Supplied: Steve Hinge )

The extremely remote nature of WA's north-west only adds to the concern, because a biosecurity breach could go unnoticed for a considerable time. 

"It's the tyranny of size," Ms Christensen said.

"But we are ensuring Kimberley and Pilbara pastoralists are aware of what to look for and what to do if there is an incursion."

Tony Seabrook says it is time to tighten up border security. ( Four Corners )

Pastoralists and Graziers Association president Tony Seabrook described the situation as "very disturbing"because of the presence of livestock diseases in Indonesia.

"It takes just one germ to come into our country — just one," he said.

"Finding refuse on the beach indicates they are way, way too close … We need to make clear to them this is just not on.

"The most worrying aspect of it would be if [disease] got into the feral pig population.

"It could be in there for quite a long time before we found out about it and it would be very difficult to get rid of it.

"Take the boats and burn them — it's harsh, but it's a message that would spread all over Indonesia and they'd stop."

Rubbish found on the usually pristine Kimberley coastline is being collected by fishers. ( Supplied: Corrie Mcintosh )

An Australian Border Force (ABF) spokeswoman said the authority had noted an increase in illegal fishing activity.

A number of agencies, including Maritime Border Command and AFMA run aerial, land and sea surveillance with targeted operations.

The ABF and Australian Defence Force also intercept illegal fishers at sea.

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Fewer fish and more rules lead to illegal catches, Italian fishers say

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• The line between legal and illegal fishing in the waters off Italy’s Calabria region is often blurred, with fishers blaming stringent top-down regulations for constricting their traditional practices.
• The issue is further muddied by the presence here of the ‘ndrangheta or Calabrian mafia, which investigations have shown is involved in the fish trade and also uses it as cover for illicit activities such as drug smuggling.
• The Mediterranean Sea is experiencing a decline in fish stocks, ranging from 60-90% depending on the species, with the NGO Sea Shepherd Italia blaming illegal fishing for environmental damage.

CALABRIA, Italy — “On our coasts there is … a massive presence, that everyone can see, of poachers and illegal fishermen,” a fisher in Calabria, in southwestern Italy, told Mongabay. He said he decided to speak with this team of journalists because increased fishing of declining stocks meant “we are heading toward a point of no return.” But it was not an easy decision: He asked to remain anonymous due to fears of retaliation from other fishers and the local ‘ndrangheta or Calabrian mafia. A dozen other sources would also speak about illegal fishing in the area only off the record.

“The situations are visible to all, they are experienced every day just by spending a little time on our coasts,” he said, describing illegal activities happening in plain view, such as fishing in the river mouth or near the coast, and the use of prohibited fishing gear and unregistered amateur boats.

In Calabria, the region encompassing the toe of Italy’s boot-shaped peninsula, many fishers slip regularly between legality and illegality, as several sources told Mongabay. Even some fishers who usually work legally sometimes cross the line, and most know at least one illegal fisher, these sources said. In 2022,  13,172 crimes and administrative violations related to fishing activities were detected in Italy, or 36 per day, according to a report by Legambiente, an Italian environmental association. More than 48% of these incidents occurred in the four regions with a traditional mafia presence, including Calabria, the report says. (Italy has 15 coastal regions in all.)

The anonymous reports collected by Mongabay are borne out by police inspections and seizures, especially of species such as swordfish, juvenile sardines, and bluefin tuna, the latter of which is notably coveted and subject to strict Italian and European legislation. For example, in October 2023, a joint operation between the Coast Guard and the city of Reggio Calabria’s traffic police seized 1,500 kilograms (3,307 pounds) of bluefin tuna without the required documentation certifying its provenance, and 140 kg (309 lbs) of hake, valued at 35,000 euros (about $38,000), in the Calabrian city of Villa San Giovanni.

The seizures are evidence of a supply chain that’s hard to trace. Several investigations by the Reggio Calabria public prosecutor’s office have revealed that ‘ndrangheta families control the sale of fish. The investigations also highlight other illicit activities conducted in combination with fishing, such as drug trafficking. “[T]here have been cases of individuals who have used fishing boats to recover narcotics from the sea that were purposely abandoned in the water,” Giovanni Bombardieri, Reggio Calabria’s chief public prosecutor, told Mongabay.

At the same time, fishers describe difficulties in simply carrying on with their jobs, which are rooted in local tradition.

“I started fishing when I was 16 years old, and I have done all the jobs in the sea,” Luciano Gioffrè, 62, a fisher from the municipality of Bagnara Calabra, told Mongabay. “My mother was a bagnarota [a worker in the local fishing sector]. We have always worked at different types of fishing, depending on the season. Nowadays it is no longer possible.”

In particular, fishermen complain about Italian and European laws and the corresponding bureaucracy. “It’s fair that there are rules but not in a repressive way. I can understand, ‘you can’t do this, you can’t do that, you can’t do that.’ And in the end, what is left? There can be no generational change,” Gioffrè said, lamenting how local young people have turned away from fishing as a career because of the difficulties.

To gain bargaining power, promote their products collectively and get help navigating all the bureaucracy, many fishermen join cooperative organizations, such as La Perla del Tirreno di Bagnara Calabra.

“The biggest mistake [by the European Commission] was to issue regulations that apply to the whole Mediterranean Sea … without thinking that other non-EU countries … are not subject to these regulations,” the co-op’s director, Antonio Lombardo, told Mongabay. For example, he said European fishers hunt swordfish in the same waters as Tunisian and Moroccan fishers, but are subject to much stricter regulations: “So they can continue to fish for swordfish with …  tools that are now forbidden for us.”

The Mediterranean Sea is experiencing a decline in fish stocks, ranging from 60-90% depending on the species. Sea Shepherd Italia, an NGO patrolling Calabrian waters on behalf of the government , blames illegal fishing for environmental damage.

“In this area, fishermen do not use large fishing boats but thousands of small ones, practicing artisanal fishing,” said Andrea Morello, the organization’s president. Morello said technology such as satellite tracking devices and modern supply chain tracking systems could help solve Calabria’s illegal fishing problem.

On the small boats used here, he said, “the control effectively disappears because they don’t have the EFEs [satellite vessel tracking devices], they don’t have the obligation to use traceability. If we ask a legal fisherman if they are willing to have cameras on board, they will agree: they have no problem showing legal work.”

Banner image: A wall decoration depicting a bagnarota , a traditional worker in the fishing sector of Bagnara Calabra. Image by Monica Pelliccia and Alice Pistolesi for Mongabay.

Illegal bottom trawling widespread inside Mediterranean marine protected areas

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• 11 November 2022

Suspected illegal fishing revealed by ships’ tracking data

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When fishing vessels hide their locations, they sometimes reveal a wealth of information. Gaps in tracking data can hint at illegal activity, finds a modelling study 1 .

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Raids on restaurants, builders and other firms illegally employing migrants in Britain to be 'ramped up'

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Raids on restaurants, building firms and other companies illegally employing immigrants in the UK are to be increased as part of the plan to stop the “small boats” crisis, says Yvette Cooper .

The Home Secretary also stressed that more covert operations would be launched against crime gangs behind the cross- Channel crossings.

French government chiefs, including the Mayor of Calais , have argued that Britain is an “El Dorado” for migrants as there is not a universal ID card system and it is easier for them to work illegally compared to other European countries.

Ms Cooper stressed that migrants in the UK illegally could not claim benefits.

But she added: “We do think that there needs to be much stronger action and enforcement against illegal working, including against employers who are exploiting people and making profits out of migration.

“That is why this summer we launched a major new programme to increase action against illegal working, increasing raids, increasing enforcement,” she added, speaking on BBC radio.

“That has led to an increase in fines...against employers, stronger action being taken against employers.

“We want to continue upgrading that.”

The Home Office warns bosses that they could be jailed for five years and be hit with an unlimited fine if they are found guilty of employing someone who they knew or had “reasonable cause to believe” did not have the right to work in the UK.

This could include if the employer had any reason to believe that their workers:

• Did not have leave (permission) to enter or remain in the UK
• Their leave had expired
• They were not allowed to do certain types of work
• Their papers were incorrect or false

Firms can also be given a civil penalty fine of up to £60,000 for each illegal worker they employ if they fail to do proper checks on them to ascertain if they have the right to work in the UK.

But French ministers have criticised the UK’s labour laws and Calais Mayor Natacha Bouchart said: “At some point, we’re going to have to have a showdown with this government” to avoid “in fifty years’ time (being) still at the same level, with people wanting to go to England because it continues to be an El Dorado.”

Didier Leschi, Director of the French Office of Immigration and Integration, has also argued: “The issue for England is to have an internal system that appears to be an El Dorado - and probably wrongly so - since it’s a country where you can work very easily without having a residence permit.”

Sir Keir Starmer was in Rome on Monday for talks with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on dealing with the migration crisis.

The Prime Minister stressed that “upstream work” was behind Italy’s success in reducing by around two thirds the number of migrants risking their lives by seeking to cross the Mediterranean from North Africa to reach the southern European country.

Visiting a co-ordination centre for the crackdown on migration, he said: “I’ve long believed, by the way, that prevention and stopping people traveling in the first place is one of the best ways to deal with this particular issue.

“So I am very interested to know how that upstream work went, looking, of course, at other schemes, looking forward to my bilateral with the prime minister this afternoon, but we’ve already got a shared intent to work together on this trade, this vile trade, of pushing people across borders.”

Ms Cooper emphasised that Italy had focused on migration prevention work with countries across North Africa to stop boats leaving Tunisia and other countries, targeting criminal gangs, stronger enforcement, and swift returns of failed asylum seekers.

“In each of those three areas, we are also working to do prevention work, to do much stronger law enforcement and we have also increased returns over the summer,” she said.

“The rules need to be respected and enforced.”

On dismantling the criminal gangs, she added: “We do want to use greater covert techniques, things like covert cameras and operations, and investing substantial sums in upgrading our intelligence and analytical services.”

More broadly on addressing the “small boats” crisis, she added: “We think the biggest changes that we can make in tackling this problem is by going after the criminal gangs and by having proper enforcement work under way right across Europe.

“That is why we are upgrading the enforcement work, recruiting additional police, security officers to go after the gangs, with new technology in place as well.”

Martin Hewitt, a former chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council and ex-Assistant Commissioner at the Metropolitan Police, has been appointed to run a new Border Security Command which will co-ordinate the UK’s response and be empowered to lead joint investigations with other countries.

Ms Cooper also stressed that more work would be done to stop boats that have been launched into the Channel from leaving shallow waters and then risking lives as the depths get deeper.

The French authorities have been accused of failing to do enough to stop often unseaworthy inflatable boats, overcrowded with men, women and children, from leaving northern France and heading into deep, perilous waters.

On Sunday, French authorities said eight people had died trying to cross the Channel after their boat got into difficulty , bringing the death toll in attempted crossings to 46 since the start of the year.

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