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Investigation No. 8 Three vessels or one?

by FISH-i Africa

Summary

This case highlights the complex use and abuse of vessel identities and how these were uncovered. FISH-i Africa compared tracks of fishing vessels and photographs taken during port visits around the Western Indian Ocean to expose the ambiguity in the vessels’ identity.

Detailed description

This case highlights the complex use and abuse of vessel identities and how these were uncovered. FISH-i Africa compared tracks of fishing vessels and photographs taken during port visits around the Western Indian Ocean to expose the ambiguity in the vessels’ identity. Later, media sources in Indonesia cast further uncertainty on the identity of these vessels. The importance of cross checking information and the value of taking and sharing photographs of fishing vessels is demonstrated, without which the misuse of identities would have been difficult to confirm.

More Information

Submitted By

Justin Slabbert
Created At

2019-06-27 03:15:31

Revised At

2019-06-27 03:42:50

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FISH-i Africa

The Western Indian Ocean is home to abundant fish resources that sustain a thriving fishing industry, which in turn support local economies and a provides food and jobs in the region and abroad. These resources also fuel one of the world’s illegal fishing hot spots – destroying the marine environment, robbing national economies, stealing food and livelihoods from local people, and undermining legitimate industry. In response – eight countries – Comoros, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Somalia and Tanzania – have joined forces to tackle this problem. These countries had already pledged to take actions against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, but in reality, with combined waters of nearly five million square kilometres and limited assets and capacity, overcoming the complex web of large-scale illegal fishing was a challenge that they could not take on individually. So in late 2012 FISH-i Africa was formed with the aim to improve cooperation, information and intelligence sharing in order to take enforcement actions against illegal fishing operators.