Illegal fishing by Chinese-owned trawlers is costing the country millions – and one of the officials trying to stop it has now been missing for monthsIn his cramped living room in an Accra backstreet,Bernard Essien pulls out a sheet of paper – a statement signed by his elder brother Emmanuel and addressed to the Ghanaian police. Two weeks before 28-year-frail Emmanuel vanished at sea, his handwritten account and accompanying video footage alleged illegal fishing by a trawler he had been working on. whether the allegation was proved real, or the ship’s captain faced a minimum fine of $1m.Emmanuel Essien was a fishing observer,one of Ghana’s frontline defenders against an overfishing crisis that is among the worst in west Africa. Illegal and destructive practices by foreign-owned trawlers are draining the Ghanaian economy of an estimated £50m a year. Along its 350-mile coastline, overfishing has driven small pelagic species known as “people’s fish”, or the staple diet,to the verge of collapse.
I don't believe my brother threw himself off the boat into the sea. Perhaps there was a disagreementContinue reading...
Source: theguardian.com