As Andy Giles saw in Toughest Place to be a Fisherman, many coastal communities in Sierra Leone are dependent on fishing to survive, and this livelihood is threatened by illegal fishing by foreign, industrial trawlers. 

EJF works with fishing communities in the Sherbro River area of Sierra Leone to document pirate fishing by foreign industrial vessels.

EJF’s community surveillance boat responds to calls from fishers  who witness pirate fishing or have their fishing equipment destroyed  by industrial trawlers operating illegally in the Inshore Exclusion Zone.

During the next 5 years, EJF is seeking to expand the community surveillance project to 10 more communities and to provide fishermen that are dear to Andy with the equipment and training to document pirate fishing themselves.

£10,000 could:

Provide 15 local fishers with Android phones featuring the ‘trawler spotter’ app enabling them to document and report pirate fishing, as well as record their own catches (£1,500).

Provide training programme for local fishers in the use of the ‘trawler spotter’ technology (£1,500).

Provide lights and navigational equipment for EJF boat so it can  pursue trawlers at night, when they are at their most active (£2,500).

Provide fuel for 30 long-range surveillance missions by the community boat (£3,000).

Provide a satellite phone for the community surveillance boat for use in emergencies and to alert authorities to pirate fishing activity (£500).

Contribution to medical healthcare fund for local staff and their families (£1,000).

Any support would be greatly appreciated. 

EJF’s local staff in Sierra Leone take photos, video and GPS coordinates of offending vessels and submit evidence to the Sierra Leone government in Freetown and European authorities to ensure that the vessels are sanctioned and their catch cannot be exported to the world’s valuable seafood markets. This could make such a huge difference to fishermen like Kabba and Ishmael Kaine and give them a fighting chance of supporting their families.

Some of the EJF community surveillance project’s achievements so far:

Documented over 200 incidents of pirate fishing reported by  over 23 different communities in Sierra Leone.

Investigated the laundering of pirate fish leading to the seizure of £4 million of seafood products in the Canary Islands.

Provided evidence to the Sierra Leone government leading to over 300,000USD in fines.