Inside a packed conference room at A'La Lagune Guest House on Tuesday, the steady hum of air conditioning mixed with the rapid tapping of laptop keyboards and the rustle of notebooks as journalists and civil society actors followed a technical briefing on illegal fishing in Liberia's waters.
At the front of the room, Augustine Fayiah, Program Officer with the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), delivered a stark warning about the scale of the problem threatening Liberia's marine resources.
"Vast ocean resources are quietly being depleted every day by illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing," Fayiah said. "If we don't close the gaps in monitoring and ownership, Liberia's coastal communities will pay the price."
More than 30 participants drawn from civil society organizations and media institutions--including the Liberian Observer, FrontPage Africa, ELBC Radio, and community radio stations from Grand Cape Mount to Sinoe--attended the one-day workshop. Press Union of Liberia President Julius Kanubah was also present, listening attentively as facilitators laid out the foundations of a new fisheries transparency drive.
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For EJF, the training marks the formal launch of activities under the Ocean5-funded project titled "Creating Greater Fisheries Transparency in Liberia," an initiative aimed at strengthening oversight of the country's fisheries sector and exposing opaque practices in industrial fishing operations.
The project focuses on increasing public access to information on fishing activities, including vessel tracking, licensing data, and beneficial ownership of industrial trawlers operating under foreign flags--core components of the Global Charter for Fisheries Transparency.
Kanubah stressed the responsibility of the media in exposing illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing and holding institutions accountable.
"The media must be at the center of this campaign," Kanubah said. "We cannot protect our fisheries if the public doesn't know who is fishing in our waters, under what conditions, and whether the laws are being followed."
A key focus of the workshop was advocacy for Liberia's ratification of International Labour Organization Convention 188 (ILO C188), which establishes binding international standards on safety, working conditions, and medical care for fishers at sea.
"Ratifying ILO C188 would bring Liberia in line with international labor standards for its growing semi-industrial and industrial fleets," Fayiah noted. "Decent work at sea is not optional. It's a requirement if Liberia wants a sustainable blue economy."
Participants examined case studies linking illegal fishing with labor exploitation, with EJF facilitators noting that vessels engaged in IUU fishing often also violate labor and safety standards at sea.
The organization said the Transparency Project will support reforms aimed at strengthening Liberia's fisheries governance, improving enforcement, advancing labor protections, and implementing the Global Charter for Fisheries Transparency.
Liberia's 580-kilometer coastline remains vulnerable to weak enforcement and opaque vessel ownership structures, conditions that have enabled foreign industrial fleets to exploit fish stocks at the expense of artisanal fishers.
Situated within the Gulf of Guinea--one of the world's most affected regions for IUU fishing--Liberia continues to lose significant revenue annually due to illegal operators targeting high-value species and underreporting catches, according to the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Authority (NaFAA). Artisanal fishers from Robertsport to Harper have repeatedly reported declining catches and frequent conflicts with industrial trawlers operating illegally within the Inshore Exclusion Zone.
EJF noted that the Ocean5-funded initiative builds on its ongoing work with NaFAA, including technical support for port inspections, vessel monitoring systems, and community-based surveillance programs designed to detect illegal activity along Liberia's coastline.
The organization has also supported training sessions for fisheries inspectors on assessing labor conditions aboard industrial vessels and has collaborated with local media outlets to investigate vessel licensing and beneficial ownership structures.
During Tuesday's workshop, participants were introduced to practical tools for investigative reporting, including how to file freedom of information requests for fisheries license data and how to use global vessel tracking databases to monitor industrial fishing activity.
EJF emphasized that strengthening transparency requires coordinated action between journalists, civil society organizations, regulators, and coastal communities.
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"The successful disruption of illegal fishing depends on collective vigilance," one facilitator said. "This is not just a regulatory issue--it is a public accountability issue."
Participants also developed a joint advocacy roadmap targeting Liberia's next legislative session, when ratification of ILO C188 is expected to be considered.
According to NaFAA estimates, more than 33,000 Liberians depend directly on small-scale fishing for their livelihoods, underscoring the importance of reforms to licensing, enforcement, and labor standards for food security and poverty reduction.
EJF confirmed that Tuesday's training is the first in a series of planned engagements under the Ocean5 project, which will include a legal clinic for civil society organizations on fisheries law, a data journalism bootcamp on vessel tracking, and a roundtable discussion with lawmakers on labor standards in the fishing sector.
The overall aim, the organization said, is to strengthen public pressure for reform while equipping journalists and civil society actors with the technical skills needed to track illegal fishing, expose abuse, and promote sustainable management of Liberia's marine resources.
