The European Commission issued on Monday a so-called “red card” to the Caribbean country Trinidad and Tobago for its lack of cooperation in the fight against illegal fishing, an illicit market estimated to be worth 10-20 billion euros each year worldwide.

New evidence collected by OCCRP indicates that two Chinese trawlers were fishing in Sierra Leone’s marine protected areas, where industrial fishing is forbidden for their unique biodiversity and vital role in sustaining the ocean ecosystem.

Brazil's environmental protection agency, Ibama, announced on Monday that it has conducted the largest-ever recorded seizure of shark fins in the world, totaling an astonishing 28.7 tonnes. This seizure represents an estimated death toll of 10,000 sharks, according to the agency.

Authorities in Sierra Leone claim that measures to keep better track of fishing vessels have stopped industrial trawlers from intruding into waters reserved for artisanal fishermen. But video recordings and fishermen’s testimonies suggest their efforts are still falling short.

A fishing boat returns in Goderich, Sierra Leone. (Photo: Josef Skrdlik/OCCRP)

On June 5, 2022, British journalist Dom Phillips and his Brazilian guide Bruno Pereira disappeared in Brazil’s Javari Valley, in the Amazon. Reporters investigated the illegal fishing gangs thought to be behind their deaths.

Dom Phillips photographed by Bruno Pereira, two days before their murder, as he speaks with “Caboco,” an illegal fisherman from the Javari Valley in the Amazon. (Photo: TV Globo/Globoplay)

The United Nations haveagreed on a common framework for establishing marine protected areas on the high seas in a move celebrated as a breakthrough in the fight to stop overfishing and preserve marine biodiversity.

The European Commission has banned the import of seafood from Cameroon to the European Union, punishing the country for its lack of action against illegal fishing. The ban will stay in effect until Cameroon complies with the EU’s Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing regulation.

The Gulf of Guinea is safer than it used to be, with a steady decline in piracy incidents and armed robbery at sea reported in the past year.

Two French organizations are accusing a former government official responsible for negotiating access to African tuna fisheries of having been recruited by the largest tuna lobby in France.

As war with Russia continues to rage In Ukraine’s east, Kyiv’s State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) is battling corruption in the unoccupied regions of the country.

Democratic and Republican senators crossed the aisle in Washington tointroduce a bill aimed to cut down on illegal, unregulated and unlicensed (IUU) fishing.

After President Biden released last month a memorandum detailing his administration's dedication to fight Illegal, Unlicensed and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing, U.S. officials have been speaking out against the scourge worldwide.

Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira, who was last month murdered in the Amazon along with British journalist Dom Phillips, had found out that municipal officials were involved in illegal fishing and poaching on protected Indigenous land in the Amazon,Brazilian journalists say they were told by sources.

An international nonprofit organization has released the first ever globalmap of so-called ‘dark fleets,’ or fishing vessels that do not broadcast their location or appear in public monitoring systems. The map is exposing the extent of illegal fishing worldwide.

Spanish and French fishing vessels were found to have been illegally fishing in the exclusive economic zones of Somalia, India and Mozambique, claims a newreport by the Blue Marine Foundation, an NGO dedicated to marine conservation.

Labor abuse is rampant in both legal and illegal fisheries, researchers found when they looked at conditions at some 792 ports in a new study published in the academic journal, Nature Communications.

Some first saw it as a wall of light upon the waves, others a series of blips popping up out of blue on radar screens, while most only saw its effect in their waters being almost entirely depleted of fishing stocks.

Starting next month, the U.S. will ban Mexican fishing vessels from calling in U.S. ports in the Gulf of Mexico over concerns about illegal fishing.

A global investigation showed that the illicit fishing trade fuels transnational organized crime activities such as the trafficking of humans, drugs, and explosives, Interpol reported.

After the close of the 2021 Climate Change Conference (COP26), activist groups are saying that despite the focus on healthy oceans and maritime sustainability, one pressing topic remained unspoken -- illegal fishing.