Photo: Stockfile/FIS

Ghana Suspends Licenses of Chinese Trawlers in Crackdown on Illegal Fishing

GHANA
Monday, May 19, 2025, 00:10 (GMT + 9)

In a significant move against illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, which costs Ghana millions annually, the country's Fisheries Commission has suspended the licenses of four Chinese-owned trawlers for a year due to multiple violations.

Ghana has taken further action against illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, a pervasive issue estimated to cost the nation between $14.4 million and $23.7 million each year. In April, Ghana’s Fisheries Commission and the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture suspended the fishing licenses of four Chinese trawlers for a period of one year due to a range of violations.

The vessels in question, Meng Xin10, Florence 2, Long Xiang 607, and Long Xiang 608, are all registered under the Ghanaian flag but are ultimately owned by three Chinese companies, according to Ghana Business News. The practice of Chinese trawlers using "flagging in" – exploiting local regulations to register foreign-owned and -operated vessels in African registries to fish in local waters – is a well-known tactic. Flagging in is often indicative of vessels engaged in IUU fishing activities.

The Environmental Justice Foundation estimates that at least 90% of the industrial trawlers operating in Ghana are owned by Chinese corporations.

Authorities suspended the licenses of the four vessels due to unauthorized transshipment of fish at sea, a practice known as "saiko" (the discarding of unwanted fish); fishing in restricted zones; and the harvesting of juvenile fish. These practices contribute to the decline of fish stocks and the destruction of ecosystems crucial for marine life survival. They also exacerbate food insecurity and threaten the livelihoods of over 2 million people employed in Ghana’s small-scale fisheries sector.

The practice of saiko has driven populations of Ghana’s small pelagic species, such as sardinella, to the brink of collapse. Pelagic fish are generally easier to catch compared to deep-water species.

“Saiko is precipitating the collapse of Ghana’s staple fish stock and with it, poverty and hunger for its people,” stated Steve Trent, executive director of the Environmental Justice Foundation, in a Dialogue Earth report. “Chinese trawlers are making millions of dollars in an illegal trade which makes up over half of the fish caught by industrial boats in Ghana.”

While only artisanal fishers are legally permitted to catch pelagic fish in Ghana, large commercial fleets continue to harvest them, depriving local fishing communities of vital revenue. The average annual income of Ghana’s more than 100,000 artisanal fishermen has decreased by as much as 40% per canoe in approximately the last 15 years, according to the Environmental Justice Foundation.

Industrial vessels also damage fish populations through the use of illegal nets that capture juvenile fish, fishing with powerful lights at night, and the use of explosives. “This compounds the plight of artisanal fishers and frustrates efforts aiming to address illegalities in the artisanal sector,” Nana Kweigyah, an artisanal fisherman in Ghana, told Oceana, an international conservation organization.

China operates the world’s largest distant-water fishing fleet and is identified as the world’s worst offender for illegal fishing, according to the IUU Fishing Risk Index. Of the top 10 companies involved in illegal fishing globally, eight are based in China.

Chinese trawlers are also notorious for engaging in bottom trawling, a destructive practice involving dragging large nets along the ocean floor, indiscriminately capturing all forms of marine life. This practice leads to the death of juvenile fish, contributing to declining fish stocks, and damages ecosystems essential for the survival of marine life.

The Meng Xin fleet, owned by the Dalian Mengxin Ocean Fishery Company, has a troubling connection to the 2019 disappearance of Ghanaian fisheries observer Emmanuel Essien. He went missing from the Meng Xin 15 trawler after reportedly filming the crew illegally discarding fish at sea and filing a report with the country’s Fisheries Commission. Essien remains missing.

Photo: The Guardian

Ghanaian fisheries observers interviewed by the BBC years after Essien’s disappearance recounted earning meager wages on foreign trawlers, with payment delays sometimes stretching up to five months. This precarious financial situation reportedly made accepting kickbacks from Chinese and Ghanaian crew managers a necessity for feeding their families. “If you reject the bribe you go home hungry,” one observer told the BBC.

Emelia Arthur, Ghana’s newly appointed fisheries and aquaculture development minister, has pledged greater transparency within the fisheries sector. In April, Ghana, alongside Cameroon and South Korea, officially endorsed the Global Charter for Fisheries Transparency. This charter aims to ensure the widespread availability of information regarding vessels and fishing activities to promote responsible fisheries management, eradicate illegal practices, and protect human rights at sea.

“I stand here fully subscribing to the Global Charter for Fisheries, which for me is in-caught within a framework of accountability,” Arthur stated in an Oceana news release. “Not just because it’s important to do, but it’s also because it reflects Ghana’s fisheries laws and objectives and sets a good map for reforms.”

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