Chinese Fleet Reduces West African Fish Stocks

 The Telegraph published on 5 June 2023 an article titled "'They Are Stealing What Should be Ours': Chinese Trawlers Are Emptying West African Fishing Grounds" by Torbjorn Wester.

Fish stocks off West Africa are in sharp decline due primarily to the presence of Chinese long-distance trawlers, many of them registered illegally in Ghana.  Local fishermen contribute to the problem by using illegal practices such as dynamite and agricultural insecticides.  

Russian Disinformation Has an Impact in West Africa

 The Washington Post published on 21 April 2022 an article titled "He's Pro-Russian, anti-Zelensky and Rallying for Putin in West Africa" by Danielle Paquette.

This is a personalized account of the impact in Burkina Faso and Mali of Russian disinformation concerning the invasion of Ukraine. 

Economic Community of West African States Condemns Russia's War on Ukraine

 The Economic Community of West African States based in Abuja, Nigeria issued a statement on 27 February 2022 concerning Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The Economic Community of West African States expressed great concern at the military invasion of Ukraine by Russia, strongly condemned the action and called on both parties to solve their differences through dialogue.  

Chinese Supertrawlers Threaten Liberian Fishing Communities

The Environmental Justice Foundation posted on 14 July 2020 an article titled "Liberian Fishing Communities Threatened by Chinese Supertrawlers."

Six Chinese supertrawlers have arrived in Liberia, capable of taking over 12,000 tons of fish annually--nearly twice the nation's sustainable catch.  Artisanal Liberian canoe fishers fear for their jobs and food security.  Foreign long distance fishing vessels pose a growing threat to fish stocks throughout West African waters. 

Liberia's National Fisheries and Aquaculture Authority (NaFAA) issued a rejoinder to this report on 10 August 2020 titled "NaFAA Reacts to Environmental Justice Foundation."  Without making any reference to "Chinese" trawlers, the rebuttal dismissed the Environmental Justice Foundation report as "fabricated, baseless, biased and a complete fallacy."  

Piracy Shifts from Gulf of Aden to Gulf of Guinea

The Maritime Executive published on 19 May 2020 an article titled "Nigerian Navy Thwarts Hijacking of Chinese Fishing Vessel" by Ian M. Ralby.

African piracy has shifted from the Gulf of Aden, which has seen few incidents in recent years, to the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa where both piracy and armed robbery on ships have increased.  In the most recent case, pirates seized a Chinese fishing vessel off the coast of Cote d'Ivoire.  It had a good ending when the Nigerian Navy's Special Boat Service apprehended the vessel, recovered the 18 hostages, and arrested the 10 pirates. 

China's Fishing Fleet Threatens West African Waters

The New York Times published on 30 April 2017 an article titled "China's Appetite Pushes Fisheries to the Brink" by Andrew Jacobs.

China is the world's biggest seafood exporter and its population accounts for more than a third of all fish consumption worldwide. It has the world's largest fishing fleet and increasingly is operating in the waters off West Africa. Overfishing is depleting oceans across the globe, with 90 percent of the world's fisheries fully exploited or facing collapse. In the case of West Africa, African fishermen are finding it increasingly difficult to compete with international fishing fleets, especially those from China.

The New York Times published on 3 May 2017 an editorial on this topic titled "China Wants Fish, So Africa Goes Hungary." It is a tough assessment of global Chinese fishing practices, but notes China is beginning to take a few remedial measures.

Chinese Fishing Fleet in West Africa

Quartz Africa published on 23 November 2016 an article titled "A Glimpse of Life Onboard the Chinese Fishing Boats Dominating West Africa's Seas" by Lily Kuo.

China now has the largest fishing fleet in the waters off West Africa and environmentalists worry that the waters cannot support this level of fishing for long.

Chinese Fishing Practices under Fire in West Africa

Greenpeace published in May 2015 a report titled "Scam on the African Coast: The Hidden Face of Chinese and Joint-venture Vessels Tonnage Fraud in Senegal, Guinea Bissau and Guinea." 

The report exposes how China's biggest distant water fishing company, the China National Fisheries Corporation, and other Chinese companies, under-declare the gross tonnage of their fishing vessels, whether Chinese flagged or owned and operated under other flags through joint ventures, and jeopardize the sustainable and equitable exploitation of West African marine resources.  The report is based mainly on data collected in Senegal, Guinea Bissau and Guinea.

A French-language copy of the  report is also available.

The State of Maritime Piracy

The Denver-based Oceans Beyond Piracy and One Earth Foundation have just published a 115 page report titled "The State of Maritime Piracy 2013."  It contains long sections on piracy in East Africa and West Africa.  It highlights the decline of Somali piracy.

Did 2013 Mark the End of Somali Piracy?

Time published on 6 January 2014 an article titled "Did 2013 Mark the End of Somali Piracy?" by Noah Rayman.  The author said a testament of the success of recent antipiracy measures is that hijackings of major shipments off the coast of Somalia fell to zero in 2013.  The pirates are also trying less often.  There were only nine suspected attempts in 2013 in the shipping lanes between Yemen and Somalia. 

The pirates have not disappeared.  They are still commandeering smaller international fishing boats and holding more than 70 sailors hostage.  But the focus on piracy has moved to West Africa's Gulf of Guinea.  Maritime security experts warn that the sharp reduction in successful hijackings in 2013 could evaporate if there is a significant reduction in the international naval presence. 

A Role for China in Gulf of Guinea Piracy?

As piracy decreases in the Gulf of Aden, where China's PLA Navy has played a prominent role, it is increasing in West Africa's Gulf of Guinea.  The question arises whether China might join an effort to combat piracy, which is aimed at stealing resources rather than taking ships for ransom, in the Gulf of Guinea.  In an excellent analysis on 10 December 2013 in The National Interest titled "Piracy's Next Frontier: A Role for China in Gulf of Guinea Security?" Andrew S. Erickson and Austin M. Strange, both experts on piracy and China's effort to combat it, explain why China is less likely to engage in the Gulf of Guinea in the same way that it did in the Gulf of Aden. 

Somali Piracy: Latest Statistics and Best Prevention Tactics

The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) regularly produces reports on global piracy. In recent years, the focus has been on Somali piracy because most of the attacks have occurred in the Gulf of Aden and Western Indian Ocean. The IMB's most recent report detects a decline in Somali pirate attacks and a growing number off the coast of West Africa. You can request IMB piracy reports free of charge by clicking here.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) produced an excellent report in 2011 titled Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Waters off the Coast of Somalia: Best Management Practices for Protection against Somalia Based Piracy. Click here to read the entire report.

"How Qaddafi's downfall would hurt Libya's southern neighbors"

A Libyan rebel soldier carries ammunition as rebel forces prepare for battle in Ajdabiya on March 2, 2011 while pro Moamer Kadhafi soldiers and mercenaries armed with tanks and heavy artillery stormed the nearby city of Brega, 200 kilometres (125 miles) southwest of the main eastern city Benghazi, sparking heavy clashes. MARCO LONGARI/AFP/Getty Images.

I'm quoted in an article by Drew Hinshaw, West Africa correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor, titled "West Africa Rising." Here are my quotes:

More concerning are the mercenaries among the refugees. Estimates of the number of sub-Saharan African soldiers on Qaddafi's payroll range from 300 to a few thousand.

David Shinn, former Ambassador to Ethiopia and Burkina Faso, is less alarmed.

"The whole mercenary thing is significantly overstated," he says. "I suspect we're talking in the hundreds. They are also dispersed over a fairly wide number of countries, which means that in the case of any single country, the only one that would be particularly concerned would be Chad."

"To me," he adds, "the bigger issue is the workforce."

Quote in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (English Frankfurt General Newspaper) quoted me in its article, "Unilateral economies in Africa are losers in the crisis." If you want to read the original article, you can find it here. If you prefer the English page via Google Translate, you can access it here. Here's the quote (the slightly awkward quotes are due to the translation):

David Shinn, former U.S. ambassador to Ethiopia, is convinced that China is thinking long term and still wants to secure raw material sources. "They are not easy to reverse strategy," he says. An indication of this is the just completed trip to the Chinese State and Party leaders Hu Jintao through parts of West and East Africa. Unlike his trip two years ago, this is no country on the itinerary, in which China increased raw material and commercial interests. A sudden withdrawal would have been so surprising, because the trade volume between China and Africa in the last eight years to more than 100 billion U.S. $ has increased tenfold. China's most important partner in Africa, Angola remains. In addition, include Nigeria, Sudan and Ethiopia to be the preferred investment countries. You can the African-Chinese economic relations do not have a uniform, warns Shinn. In some states and markets, there is the crisis but in fact "tactical withdrawals."

The photo comes from the original article.