Africa loses an estimated $11.2 billion in annual revenue to illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. The challenge is particularly acute in West Africa, which loses up to $9.4 billion to the scourge.
Illegal fishing by foreign industrial and semi-industrial trawlers, particularly from China, has driven food insecurity and threatened the jobs of more than 10 million men and women who work in Africa’s artisanal fisheries.
Security professionals recognize the threat. Col. Roland T. Bai Murphy, commander of the 23rd Infantry Brigade of the Armed Forces of Liberia, has seen firsthand the effects of

