Where the world's appetite for fish matters most

http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2989376/where_the_worlds_appetite_for_fish_matters_most.html
Date Written:  2017-10-18
Publisher:  Ecologist
Year Published:  2017
Resource Type:  Article
Cx Number:  CX21666

Illegal over-fishing by Chinese and other foreign vessels is severely affecting the economy and food securty of West African nations.

Abstract: 
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Excerpt: As well as being a vital source of food, West Africa's fertile fishing zones provide seven million Africans with jobs. Plundered unchecked for decades, its dangerously exhausted stocks face new pressures.

China is pumping $60 billion into development projects across the continent. Meanwhile its trawlers - the world’s largest fleet of distant water fishing vessels - haul around $340 million worth of reported fish out of West Africa annually. This figure could be more.

A European Parliament report suggested fish caught by Chinese vessels globally may be twelve times the actual amount China reports to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization.