SHERBO ISLAND — Fishermen on Sierra Leone's Sherbo Island report that international trawlers are entering coastal exclusion zones, damaging their equipment, and colliding with their boats. The fishermen state that government authorities have not enforced regulations against these activities.

Marie Pierre stated, "International trawlers are illegally entering the coastal waters in ever larger numbers, despite there being an official exclusion zone to keep them out." Musa Gassimo said, "We cast our nets in the evening and return to shore. In the night, the trawlers have come and [deliberately] cut the lines." Gassimo added that replacing nets costs up to $250 each time they are cut.

Thomas Turay, President of Sierra Leone's Fishermen's Union, stated that average catches for union members have decreased by approximately 40% in recent years. Turay said, "The illegal fishing is too much. The sea belongs to us, but for the foreign trawlers, they come at night and violate the seven-mile exclusion zone, they come right into the shore here." Abou Waisissé reported that multiple local fishing boats had their nets cut during an attack. Mohamedi Kamara stated that a large, international trawler damaged his craft in a collision.

Kamara also said, "Local fishermen do complain [to the Fisheries Ministry], but our claims go nowhere. Nobody listens." Turay said that government authorities are hesitant to assist local fishermen, stating that those involved in illegal fishing possess the financial means to offer bribes. Steve Trent, CEO and co-founder of the Environmental Justice Foundation, said that the vast majority of international fishing ships operating off the coast of Sierra Leone are from China. He added, "In the past, we've seen South Korean vessels there, we've seen Taiwanese, we see European vessels there doing bad things. But now when you look across that region, it is overwhelmingly Chinese."

The Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a statement last month denying allegations of illegal fishing by Chinese vessels. The Ministry stated, "China is a responsible fishing nation, strictly enforcing the regulation of its distant-water fishing activities and engaging in mutually beneficial fisheries cooperation with relevant countries in accordance with international law." Trent said, "It's simply not credible for them to carry on in this way. China, to date, still is not doing nearly enough to control its fleet. In fact, I would say they're enabling it, through subsidies, through a lack of oversight and control." He added that solving illegal fishing requires improved tracking of commercial vessels and increased international pressure on Beijing.