JAKARTA — Indonesians are set to vote in presidential and legislative elections on Feb. 14 in a landmark moment for the world’s largest archipelagic country. But maritime observers say none…
MEXICO CITY — The trafficking of valuable fish bladders found in Mexico appears to be on the rise online and on social media, and it’s having a ripple effect on…
LAMONGAN, Indonesia — Wawan has traded in stingrays for years out of the port in Lamongan, a district in Indonesia’s East Java province. At dawn, fishers are often seen returning…
JAKARTA — Indonesia and Spain have signed an agreement on accrediting Indonesian migrant deckhands, as part of efforts to beef up protection against modern slavery aboard fishing vessels. Under the…
PHNOM PENH — In late December 2023, on a remote island in Preah Sihanouk province, off the southwest coast of Cambodia, a team of conservationists uncovered nine nests belonging to…
The organization responsible for managing the catch of more than half the world’s tuna holds a key section of its annual compliance meeting in secret. For three days, a committee of…
JAKARTA — The Indonesian government has invited Turkish investors to help develop an offshore tuna farm in the country’s eastern Papua region, which it aims to turn into a major…
Shark finning bans have had little effect on protecting global shark populations, according to new research. However, shark mortality decreased in pelagic fisheries, which suggests that regulatory measures in regional…
JAKARTA — Indonesia is offering resume direct exports of lobster larvae to Vietnam in exchange for investment in lobster farming and easing up on Vietnamese boats fishing illegally in its…
In December, the Spanish government issued sanctions against 25 Spanish-flagged vessels that fished near the border of Argentina’s territorial waters between 2018 and 2021. The sanctions were for repeatedly turning…
JAKARTA — Small-scale fishers who have better access to financing, the support of a peer group, and a general awareness of environmental problems tend to be more likely to adopt…
BINTAN ISLAND, Indonesia — Ever since Munsa was a young man, he would quietly paddle a small boat past the mangroves on Air Glubi Island into the Kawal Sea armed…
In the Ecuadorian Amazon, uncontrolled illegal fishing with agrochemicals and explosives is causing long-lasting damage to aquatic ecosystems, while representing a real danger to human health, a recent study has…
ANYAMAM, Ghana — Two years after the disappearance of fisheries observer Emmanuel Essien off the coast of Ghana, another observer has vanished from a fishing boat. According to his family,…
The trade in shark fins is still underway in the United States, despite legislation making such activities illegal, an investigative report has found. Environmentalists say this indicates that officials need…
In August 2020, Peru introduced a regulation requiring foreign ships using the country's ports to carry an extra satellite device so authorities could more closely track the route and movements…
Indonesia’s shark and ray trade is highly regulated but poorly monitored, opening the door for illegal activity alongside the legal sale and purchase of these fish and their products. Finding…
JAKARTA — The Indonesian government has postponed the enforcement of a new fisheries policy that drew little support from fishers and widespread criticism from experts and watchdogs. The quota-based fisheries…
LOMBOK, Indonesia — Suhardi, 43, glides across a technicolor coral garden. Freediving down to the seafloor, he scoops up a handful of sand that he sprinkles over the reef. The…
JAKARTA — As the 2024 start date looms for Indonesia’s controversial new quota-based fisheries policy, experts and watchdogs continue to flag what they say are fundamental inadequacies in the strategy.…
The government of Thailand is about to reverse eight years of progress. Following the elections in Thailand this year, the new government is promising to “unlock” fisheries by reducing regulation…
In recent years, labor issues on industrial fishing vessels have received increased attention, commanding headlines in prominent media outlets. Terrible working and living conditions — even forced labor — are…
JAKARTA — Indonesian fisheries authorities have welcomed as “better than nothing” a new policy by neighboring Singapore that should in theory help stem the smuggling of lobster larvae out of…
In 2022, the world’s nations committed to protecting 30% of their land and sea by 2030 (the so-called “30x30” initiative). At sea, this will require a massive buildup of marine…
JAKARTA — The wild populations that sustain a significant Indonesian fishery are more depleted than the government had estimated, as highlighted by a recent scientific study. The authors have called…
In November 2018, Pesqueras Echebastar, a Spanish tuna fishing company, received a certificate of sustainability from the London-based nonprofit Marine Stewardship Council, the world’s largest ecolabeling scheme for wild fisheries.…
JAKARTA — The Indonesian fisheries ministry is considering once again allowing exports of lobster larvae, a controversial policy that landed the former minister in jail for corruption. The ministry says…
The measure became even more relevant in October, following the finding of more than 100 dead dolphins in an Amazonian lake — experts suspect that the deaths are directly linked to the extreme drought affecting the region.
Seventy-six countries and the European Union have now signed the high seas treaty, signaling interest in ratifying the agreement designed to protect marine biodiversity in international waters. The signing of…
SUMENEP, Indonesia — Small-scale fishers in Indonesia’s Masalembu Islands have filed a petition to the government calling for the establishment of an exclusive fishing zone off-limits to larger trawlers that…
STEENBERG’S COVE, South Africa — For more than 40 years, the sea has been Anthony Stofberg’s livelihood. Stofberg, 62, is a fisherman, just like his father, his grandfather and his…
Today, more than 20 partners came together to establish the Nature Crime Alliance. This initiative seeks diverse approaches to help address illegal activities that leave our natural world a poorer…