Hidden Amid the Vast Depths of the Indian Ocean, Rogue Fishing Imperils a Rare and Vital Shallow Ecosystem
The global shark slaughter continues apace, particularly outside of national boundaries.
Long before I was a journalist, in 1979-80, I was incredibly lucky to cross the 4,000-mile breadth of the Indian Ocean as first mate on a circumnavigating sailboat, the Wanderlust. I took this photograph from my usual perch up the mast as we left the Republic of Maldives in late January 1980 bound west to Djibouti before turning north to ride powerful March trade winds up the Red Sea. (I’ll substitute a higher resolution scan when I can find it!)
The vastness of this great basin hides vulnerabilities, including from illegal fishing. Luckily one such vulnerability has been revealed by
’s pioneering and effective ocean-going journalism effort, .Many years ago, Urbina recognized the awareness gap around seafaring crimes against workers and ecosystems beyond national boundaries and has used innovative and sometimes-dangerous journalism methods to fill the gap.
Now he and his team have pulled together various threads - including from a 2021 Greenpeace expedition and 2022 scientific research project, to present a deeply troubling picture of how relentless and spreading fishing efforts in the Indian Ocean, particularly for sharks, have devastated the ecology of the remote Saya de Malha Bank, a vast area of shallows northeast of Madagascar covered with carbon-absorbing seagrass meadows and bountiful ecosystems.
The brunt of the fishing is done by Taiwanese, Thai and Sri Lankan fleets - many using conscripted laborers who are compensated in part by being allowed to keep the high-value fins of captured sharks. Here’s the Outlaw Ocean video report:
Outlaw Ocean cites a variety of videos from the Sri Lankan port of Beruwala showing the extent of shark landings and finning. Here’s just one example:
Here’s an excerpt from, and link to, Urbina’s new Substack post:
In November 2022, several scientists in scuba gear dove over the side of a 440-foot research ship, which had been sent to the Saya de Malha Bank. Their goal that day was to film sharks….
During the three weeks that the research team combed the waters of the Saya de Malha Bank, they spotted not a single shark.
The likely culprit, according to the scientists, was a fleet of more than 200 fishing ships that have in recent years targeted these remote waters, mostly from Taiwan, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Many of these ships target tuna species like albacore, yellowfin, skipjack, and bigeye, but they are also catching sharks in huge numbers.
Sharks play a critical role in the ecosystem as guardians of the seagrass, policing populations of turtles and other animals that would mow down all the seagrass if left unchecked.
Read the rest:
Here's my 2023 interview with Ian:
A Journalism Project Reveals Perils on Earth's "Outlaw Ocean"
UPDATED - 05/26/23 2:15 pm - I can’t think of a journalist more inventive, determined and gutsy than Ian Urbina, who made illicit or harmful human activities beyond the ocean’s horizon his beat in 2015 and has never changed course.