“Jasmine Revolution”
Symbol of peace: Flowers placed on the barrel of a tank
in very much calmer protests than in recent days in Tunisia

'The Protester' - Time Person of the Year 2011

'The Protester' - Time Person of the Year 2011
Mannoubia Bouazizi, the mother of Tunisian street vendor Mohammed Bouazizi. "Mohammed suffered a lot. He worked hard. but when he set fire to himself, it wasn’t about his scales being confiscated. It was about his dignity." (Peter Hapak for TIME)

1 - TUNISIA Democratic Change / Freedom of Speech (In Transition)


How eyepatches became a symbol of Egypt's revolution - Graffiti depicting a high ranking army officer with an eye patch Photograph: Nasser Nasser/ASSOCIATED PRESS

2 - EGYPT Democratic Change / Freedom of Speech (In Transition)


''17 February Revolution"

3 - LIBYA Democratic Change / Freedom of Speech (In Transition)

5 - SYRIA Democratic Change / Freedom of Speech (In Transition)

"25 January Youth Revolution"
Muslim and Christian shoulder-to-shoulder in Tahrir Square
"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) -
(Subjects: Egypt Uprising, Iran/Persia Uprising, Peace in Middle East without Israel actively involved, Muhammad, "Conceptual" Youth Revolution, "Conceptual" (without a manager hierarchy) managed Businesses, Internet, Social Media, News Media, Google, Bankers, Global Unity,..... etc.)
"The End of History" – Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)
(Subjects:Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Muhammad, Jesus, God, Jews, Arabs, EU, US, Israel, Iran, Russia, Africa, South America, Global Unity,..... etc.) (Text version)

"If an Arab and a Jew can look at one another and see the Akashic lineage and see the one family, there is hope. If they can see that their differences no longer require that they kill one another, then there is a beginning of a change in history. And that's what is happening now. All of humanity, no matter what the spiritual belief, has been guilty of falling into the historic trap of separating instead of unifying. Now it's starting to change. There's a shift happening."


“ … Here is another one. A change in what Human nature will allow for government. "Careful, Kryon, don't talk about politics. You'll get in trouble." I won't get in trouble. I'm going to tell you to watch for leadership that cares about you. "You mean politics is going to change?" It already has. It's beginning. Watch for it. You're going to see a total phase-out of old energy dictatorships eventually. The potential is that you're going to see that before 2013.

They're going to fall over, you know, because the energy of the population will not sustain an old energy leader ..."



African Union (AU)

African Union (AU)
African Heads of State pose for a group photo ahead of the start of the 28th African Union summit in Addis Ababa on January 30, 2017 (AFP Photo/ Zacharias ABUBEKER)

Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela
Few words can describe Nelson Mandela, so we let him speak for himself. Happy birthday, Madiba.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Pirate fishermen sell illegal haul to Europeans

Deutsche Welle, 11 October 2012



An investigation by the Environmental Justice Foundation has found that nine out of 10 trawlers caught fishing illegally in Sierra Leone send their catch to Europe. The government is working to fight the problem.

A two-year investigation by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) has found evidence of illegally caught fish entering the European market. The British-based environmental and human rights charity says nine out of 10 trawlers caught fishing illegally in Sierra Leone are actually accredited to export their catch to Europe.

The EJF claims that West Africa has the highest levels of illegal fishing in the world, and says it found evidence of bribery, attacks on local fisherman, the use of banned fishing equipment and trawlers fleeing to neighboring countries to avoid fines. The group is calling for vessels to be blacklisted, and it wants the European Union to strengthen regulations to stop illegal catches from entering Europe. 

The government in Freetown is
struggling to combat illegal fishing
In less than two years, the EJF has received 252 reports from local fisherman of pirate fishing along the coast.

"The problems are many," Siaka Swarary, a local fisherman from the outskirts of the capital, Freetown, told DW. He says the trawlers that operate far out at sea are ruining the livelihoods of the local fisherman.

"We are disturbed by the bigger trawlers. Sometimes we go one, two, three days [without a] catch." Swarary says his brother lost a fisherman at sea last year when a trawler hit his boat at night and didn't stop to help, leaving the man to drown.
"Our wives, our children…everyone is suffering because we are surviving from this fishing. Without fishing we cannot pay school fees for our children or take care of our family," he said.

A blow to the economy

Sierra Leone loses around $30 million (23.4 million euros) every year through illegal fishing. For a country trying to rebuild itself after more than a decade of civil war, it's crushing for the economy.

Soccoh Kabia, the minister of fisheries and marine resources, says the main problem is that trawlers come inside the exclusion zone – an area reserved for local fisherman. 

Many subsistance fishermen are
just barely gettting by
"Many, not all of them, have disregarded that regulation with impunity and have often threatened the lives of fishermen, destroyed their gear, destroyed the environment. The [fish] spawning ground is in that area, so they have definitely affected the development of those areas," he said.

But Kabia, who has been working closely with the EJF and other partners, says things are slowly improving and that they have already collected more than $1 million in fines over the last 18 months. Last year, the West Africa Regional Fisheries Program, supported by the World Bank, began its work to combat illegal fishing.

"Recently, the government of Liberia had a vessel that escaped prosecution there, and they contacted our minister here in Sierra Leone to see if we could assist in arresting this vessel," said Salieu Sankoh, the program's national project coordinator in Sierra Leone. "We were able to arrest [the crew] and send [them] back to Liberia, which to us is a big feather in our cap."

More needs to be done

The EJF says more needs to be done to help West African coastal states reinforce their own security systems, so that more of these arrests can be made. It's calling for the EU to strengthen regulations, as well as the penalties for illegal fishing.

Swarary and his fellow fishermen have noticed fewer trawlers, but he says they still come at night, under the cover of darkness. He says he's doing everything he can to keep his children from following in his footsteps.

"It's a very hard life. I'm suffering so much," he said. "I don't want my children following me. That's why I prefer to suffer myself and put them [through] school, and maybe after school they will get a better job."

Related Articles:

Is the EU taking its over-fishing habits to west African waters?

Seven steps to prevent the collapse of west Africa's fishing grounds


Fishermen return from their night's labours. About 1 million
 people in Senegal depend on the industry for food.
Photograph: Randy Olson/National Geographic/Getty Images


Fishermen from Gaza risk their lives at work

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.