Illegal Fishing

ADF STAFF Members of the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces knifed through the Gulf of Guinea in two speeding patrol boats. Their destination: a massive vessel on the horizon. They arrived in minutes. “One by one, one by one,” one of them…

ADF STAFF To help authorities detect illegal fishing, a new study combined the identities of 35,000 vessels with a decade of GPS data to offer a worldwide assessment of fishing compliance, fishing by foreign-owned trawlers and reflagging…

ADF STAFF Bright Tsai Kweku knows well the perils of working on board a Chinese-owned fishing vessel in Ghana. He said he witnessed one crew member die of cholera because the Chinese crew would not take him to shore for treatment. He…

ADF STAFF Kenya was among seven African nations to receive an array of equipment from the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) to help fishing inspectors battle illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Delivered in December,…

ADF STAFF As nations emerge from the pandemic, they are trying to boost economic growth wherever possible. One focus is the “blue economy,” made up of the businesses that rely on water to thrive. This sector, which includes energy,…

Vice Adm. Awwal Zubairu Gambo has served in the Nigerian Navy for more than 30 years. His career includes time working on naval strategy, intelligence, training and as a defense attache. In 2017, he was the security coordinator for the…

ADF STAFF  |  PHOTOS BY NIMASA As 2021 drew to a close, the once-perilous waters off Nigeria’s coast were showing signs of becoming uncharacteristically calm. In fact, the entire Gulf of Guinea region had shown a steady decrease in…

ADF STAFf Foreign fishing fleets have targeted the African continent’s coast for decades, devastating fish stocks, depriving millions of income and food, and destroying marine ecosystems. But experts say there are several ways nations…

ADF STAFF A year after Benin, Ghana and Togo reaffirmed their willingness to work together to reduce illegal fishing, some fishermen in the region say its badly depleted fish stocks show signs of improvement. Besides at-sea patrols,…

ADF STAFF To help Benin combat piracy and other maritime crimes in the Gulf of Guinea, the U.S. government delivered a new patrol vessel to the country in December. The U.S. also helped build a new boathouse, maintenance shop and…