Inside the Pacific's secret war on illegal fishing — and the observers risking their lives

The Pacific tuna fishery is the largest in the world — supplying more than half of the global catch and valued at $40 billion USD. But its abundance has made it a prime target for illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, with an estimated $300 million USD disappearing through illegal activity every year.

SBS World News reporter Jennifer Scherer travels to Solomon Islands to go inside Operation Tui Moana — Polynesian for 'Chief of the Ocean' — a major cross-Pacific crackdown bringing together fisheries, maritime and law enforcement personnel from 10 Pacific nations, with support from Australia, New Zealand, France and the US.

From satellite surveillance tracking dark vessels across 30 million square kilometres of ocean, to aerial patrols covering thousands of kilometres in hours, to fisheries observers stationed aboard commercial vessels as the eyes and ears of Pacific nations — the operation is as vast as the ocean it protects.

But the human cost of enforcing these waters is real. Since 2015, at least 14 fisheries observers have gone missing or died at sea — some under suspicious circumstances. Among them is Kiribati observer Eritara Aati Kaieura, whose death aboard a Taiwanese-flagged vessel in 2020 remains shrouded in unanswered questions.

This story is supported by the Pulitzer Centre.

#IllegalFishing #PacificOcean #Tuna #SolomonIslands #Overfishing #MarineConservation

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