Fishing contributes to the survival of coastal communities in many developing countries. In Guinea, fishing particularly benefits women, who process and sell the fish. However, illegal fishing has reduced fish stocks and damaged the environment, threatening Guinea’s fishing communities.

Research from the Environmental Justice Foundation, UK, looks at the effects of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in the coastal waters of Guinea. Sea fishing provides 70,000 jobs in Guinea. However, IUU fishing means there are not enough fish for everyone. Guinea is losing over 34,000 tonnes of fish every year to illegal fishing, a loss of US$110 million to the economy.

There are about 200 licensed vessels in the region, 20 of which belong to Guinea. There are bilateral fishing agreements with the European Union (EU) and China, and private agreements with Korean operators. However, there is confusion about the identity of many fishing vessels. Poorly implemented controls mean it is easy to disguise illegal vessels. There are few deterrents to illegal fishing and an absence of port controls to stop illegal vessels selling their catches. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in Spain is a particular problem area, as it is the largest point of entry to Europe for IUU fish catches from West Africa.

A Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS) project that encouraged fishing communities in Guinea to participate in surveillance had a significant effect on IUU fishing. The research shows:

• Raids by illegal boats into Guinean waters, the loss of life and the loss of fishing equipment all decreased in the zones covered by the project
• Trust between fishermen and authorities improved, particularly during boat searches.
• Both fishermen and authorities recommended that the project should be included in the government’s fisheries plan and extended to cover other areas.
• The project was cheap, costing only US$20,000.

Unfortunately, illegal trawlers are returning now that the project has ended. Inspectors, observers and fishermen involved in MCS are not all fully trained and do not receive enough institutional and financial support.

Overall, the project has been a success. A group of West African coastal states, including Guinea, have created a programme to coordinate MCS activities. This includes agreements to chase illegal fishers across national boundaries and joint air and sea surveillance activities. Efforts to tackle IUU fishing still need further support. The report suggests:

• States must implement international instruments, such as the UN Fish Stocks Agreement, and guidelines to identify fishing and support vessels.
• The EU must support MCS programmes that will enable greater enforcement of fishing laws.
• Spain must ensure that Las Palmas is not used to process illegal catches, nor provide support to IUU vessels.
• Fishing and support vessels should be registered in publicly available, up-to-date and reliable databases, with a blacklist of offending vessels.
• States should work towards eradicating ‘flags of convenience’ (a flag of one country flown by a ship owned by the citizen of another country). These greatly enable IUU fishing vessels to avoid detection and penalties.
• States should ensure the full traceability of fish and fish products entering their markets and make the trade of IUU fish illegal.

Source(s):
‘Party to the Plunder: Illegal Fishing in Guinea and its links to the EU’, Environmental Justice Foundation, 2005 (PDF) Full document.

Funded by: Rufford Maurice Laing Foundation

id21 Research Highlight: 13 November 2006

Further Information:
Environmental Justice Foundation
5 St Peter’s Street
London, N1 8JD
UK

Tel: +44 (0)20 7359 0440
Fax: +44 (0)20 7359 7123
Contact the contributor: info@ejfoundation.org

Environmental Justice Foundation, UK

Other related links:
'Tackling illegal fishing practices in Africa’s protected waters'

'The threat of overfishing to inland water bodies'

See id21's links for fisheries