A newly released film produced by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) gives voice to crew members and fisheries observers who previously kept silent about their experiences on board industrial fishing vessels operating in Ghanaian waters. They give accounts of being offered bribes, and being threatened, starved, and beaten. Their mistreatment is entangled with widespread illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing that is pushing fisheries off the coast of West Africa to the point of collapse, threatening the livelihoods of millions of people.
Ghanaian officials dispute some of the claims contained in EJF’s report, saying neither fisheries observers nor crew have reported these abuses to the authorities. But crew members and observers say they fear the consequences of making official complaints.
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On board Ghana’s trawlers, claims of human rights abuses and illegal fishing
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