Ocean Defenders: capturing evidence to crack down on illegal fishing in Senegalese waters

On the Precipice: crime and corruption in Ghana's Chinese-owned trawler fleet

Fisheries that millions of Ghanaians depend on are at risk of collapse as a result of brazen illegal fishing, catastrophic overfishing by Chinese-owned industrial trawlers and a culture of corruption which has allowed these crimes to go unpunished.

EJF’s investigation draws on evidence from interviews with Ghanaian crew who have witnessed these abuses first-hand, filmed evidence, a network of informants and analysis of vessel tracking data. The picture which emerges is one of systematic corruption that enables illegal fishing and human rights abuses to go unreported and unpunished in the country’s waters. From port authorities to Navy officials, EJF alleges that the web of corruption is so deep and entangled that sustainability, and the defence of human rights, is impossible without reform.

Gamechangers: The football team scoring conservation goals

Net Free Seas: Saving Ghana's waters from plastic nets and ghost gears

Illegal fishing, violence and ecosystem destruction by China's distant water fleet

China’s distant water fleet ­– by far the world’s largest – is rife with human rights abuses and illegal fishing, and targets endangered and protected marine life across the world’s ocean.

Net Free Seas ทะเลปลอด (เศษ) อวน

เครื่องมือประมงถือเป็นขยะพลาสติกในทะเลรูปแบบที่ส่งผลกระทบร้ายแรงที่สุดรูปแบบหนึ่งสำหรับสัตว์น้ำ โครงการ Net Free Seas (ทะเลปลอด(เศษ)อวน) ของ EJF มุ่งลดมลภาวะพลาสติกและแก้ไขปัญหาเศษอวนในทะเลไทย

Net Free Seas

Ghost gear - fishing equipment lost or discarded at sea - is considered the most deadly form of marine plastic waste for wildlife. EJF’s Net Free Seas project is ridding Thailand's waters of ghost nets and reducing plastic pollution.

Left behind

The fundamental human rights of Ghanaian fishing communities, such as the right to adequate food and decent work, are being threatened by the government’s failure to tackle overfishing and illegal fishing by industrial trawlers.