BATAM/JAKARTA, Indonesia A recent spate of illegal fishing incursions into Indonesian waters by Vietnamese vessels has sparked calls from local fishers and environmental activists for increased monitoring and security. Dozens of Vietnamese fishing boats have been detected throughout 2022 in the waters north of the Natuna Islands, according to reports and vessel-tracking intelligence. Known […]
Illegal fishing and overfishing are increasingly the cause of armed conflicts across the world’s oceans, research suggests. Both practices reduce an important yet difficult to defend food source for billions of people worldwide.
Protesters from across Sri Lanka descended on the nation’s capital in February, shouting above the street noise and pumping their fists in the air in frustration.
The group was composed of fishermen and their supporters, and their rage was sparked by the Indian boats that regularly sail into Sri Lankan waters by the thousands, hauling away valuable sea cucumbers and prawns. Sri Lankan fishermen have said they have lost business, and some have lost their lives in confrontations with foreign crews.
The protesters demanded more action from the government, even as the Sri Lankan navy has used force to guard its fisheries
Around the world, from Sri Lanka to Argentina to the South China Sea, the ocean has become an expanding front in the armed conflict between nations over illegal fishing and overfishing, practices that deplete a vulnerable food source for billions of people worldwide.
An Associated Press review of conflict databases found in the past 5 years more than 360 instances of state authorities ramming or shooting at foreign fishing boats, sometimes leading to deaths.