When the Lu Rong Yuan Yu 956 was apprehended in June 2019, it seemed like a victory in Ghana’s long war on illegal fishing. The industrial trawler had been caught fishing for sardinella, a widely consumed species reserved for small-scale fishers. Authorities issued a US $1-million fine to the vessel’s apparent owner, the Ghana-based Gyinam Fisheries & Sons Limited. But the company refused to pay, the vessel continued to fish, and, less than a year later, the Lu Rong Yuan Yu 956 was detained again for the same crime.
Hefty fines can be effective deterrents to illegal fishing; but in the case of the Lu Rong Yuan Yu 956, the fine never reached its true owner. An investigation by the nonprofit Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) revealed that Gyinam Fisheries & Sons Limited is actually a front for a Chinese company: Rongcheng Ocean Fisheries Company Limited.
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