How the ‘Galápagos of west Africa’ is plundered by floating fish factories

5 hours ago 4

The only ice factory on Bubaque, an island in west Africa’s Guinea-Bissau, is out of service. Local fishers, such as Pedro Luis Pereira, are forced to source ice from factories on the mainland, about 70km away – a six-hour round trip by boat.

“The machines have been broken for months,” Pereira says, as he pulls in his nets on the shore of the island inside the protected Bijagós archipelago. “We’ve alerted the ministry of fisheries, but so far, no one has come to fix them.”

Wooden canoes are the only fishing boats allowed among the cluster of 88 islands that make up the archipelago. Its shallow waters are a rich breeding ground for silver flat sardinella, which Pereira, racing the tropical heat, sells fresh for 250 CFA francs (£0.33) a kilo at the market in Bissau, the capital of this tiny west African republic.

The tides dictate when fishers can navigate the shallow waters of the archipelago. Its sandbars are a nursery for countless species, leading some scientists to refer to it as “the Galápagos of west Africa” for its populations of endangered turtles and manatees. It is also why the area has been designated as protected from everything but small-scale fishing.

A man holds a rope on a quay. Several boats can be seen on the water in the distance

Like Pereira, many of these creatures in this area rely on sardinella, a small oily fish. It is a vital food source for migratory birds such as terns that winter in Bijagós in their tens of thousands, as well as for barracudas and jacks, and whales and dolphins further out to sea.

But the shoals of this pelagic fish draw another, more voracious predator: industrial boats fishing the boundary of the marine protected area, which in theory they cannot enter.

Among the vessels circulating here in 2025 was the Hua Xin 17. At 125 metres, it is longer than a football field. It is listed as a cargo ship in maritime databases, but a new investigation by the Guardian and DeSmog can reveal that the Chinese-owned boat is in fact a floating factory that turns fresh sardinella into fishmeal and oil by the tonne.

Eyewitness accounts, exclusive video footage and satellite records show that a group of Turkish boats that supply the Hua Xin 17 appear to have routinely fished sardinella illegally inside Bijagós.

The factory is one of two ships anchored in the open sea that have illicitly processed up to hundreds of thousands of tonnes of freshly caught sardinella into fishmeal and oil.

Analysis of trade data by the Guardian and DeSmog shows that this fishmeal is finding its way into international supply chains.

Someone stands on a boat while another person walks waist deep in water holding a fishing net

A man tips small fish from a bucket into a larger container. A woman stands next to him

Aliou Ba, an oceans campaigner at Greenpeace, says the Bijagós archipelago is among west Africa’s most ecologically significant marine areas – and one of the last relatively intact coastal ecosystems on the continent.

“Any illegal fishing within its marine protected area is not only a violation of Guinean law, but a direct threat to biodiversity, and local communities’ food and livelihoods,” he says.

Disabling the detection system

A relatively new boat to these waters, the Hua Xin 17 was anchored for a total of 157 days in 2025 about 50km off the coast of Orango island, which is famous as the home of rare saltwater hippos.

Its discovery by the Guardian adds fresh evidence of the expansion in Guinea-Bissau of offshore processing factories, which are turning over hundreds of tonnes of fresh fish a day.

Another offshore fishmeal factory, the Tian Yi He 6, spent 244 days moored at sea in 2025, belching out black smoke about 60km from Orango island.

The Tian Yi He 6 has been operating as a fishmeal factory near Bijagós for more than five years, and has a history of infringing Guinea-Bissau’s laws.

Footage shows Chinese vessel Hua Xin 17 receiving fish from a Turkish fishing vessel

Trygg Mat Tracking (TMT), a Norwegian non-profit fisheries intelligence organisation that works with Guinea-Bissau’s fisheries inspection authority, Fiscap, has tracked fishmeal vessels since 2019 when the Tian Yi He 6 arrived, first sailing under the flag of Dominica, later switching to China in early 2020.

TMT’s intelligence reports, enhanced by analysis from the Joint Analytical Cell, a fisheries intelligence organisation, reveal continued breaches of Guinea-Bissau’s fisheries and transshipment laws. The owner and captain of the Tian Yi He 6 and the owner of a small seiner, the Ilhan Yilmaz 3, were fined between 2019 and 2020 for processing fishmeal and oil without authorisation and illegal transshipments (moving fish from one boat to another). Seine fishing is when boats use long deep nets to scoop up large quantities of fish, maximising the volume of catch.

A group of six Turkish seiners – including the Ilhan Yilmaz 3 – appear to be supplying the two factory vessels at sea, according to satellite records from Global Fishing Watch (GFW), a nonprofit organisation that monitors fishing activity.

These Turkish purse seiners are licensed to fish within Guinea-Bissau’s exclusive economic zone. This is an area of water extending 200 miles (322km) from the coastline where all fishing is allowed with a government licence and where the Hua Xin 17 and the Tiia Ye He 6 are floating. But they are not authorised to transship at sea in this area – or to fish inside the protected Bijagós waters.

Satellite records of the boats’ movements from GFW strongly suggest that Turkish boats that supply the offshore factories are fishing illegally inside the protected area.

According to the GFW satellite records, as they near the edges of the restricted Bijagós area, vessels Turk Yilmaz, Ilker Yilmaz, Ilahn Yilmaz 1 and Ilahn Yilmaz 3 routinely disable the Automatic Identification System (AIS) signals that broadcast GPS data and vessel identity – which in the past has indicated illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, in other words activities that breach national or international laws.

The signals on the boats, which are all linked to the same company, pop up briefly near the two fishmeal factories and reappear near the port of Bissau, or during voyages to and from the port at Nouadhibou in Mauritania, a major hub for the fishmeal industry.

The apparent transshipment of fish from these seiners at sea to the floating factory usually occurs with the AIS systems turned off, which would allow thousands of tonnes of illegally harvested fish to be exported without passing through Bissau ports.

A man in uniform climbs a ladder on the side of a large boat from a smaller boat with four other people in it, one of whom is also in uniform

“When foreign distant water fleets operating outside the law vacuum up these stocks for fishmeal and fish oil to feed animals instead of feeding peoples in west Africa, the consequences fall hardest on small-scale fishers and coastal communities who have no alternative,” says Ba.

‘They only gave us rice to eat’

The records of the boats’ movements and what they appear to be doing is supported by testimony from one of those on board. A local sailor, Antonio*, spent seven months on board the Hua Xin 17 in 2024. He reports that 25 crew members alternated in six-hour shifts to process sardinella on board the ship.

A smaller boat ferried sacks of fishmeal to Bissau port, and brought back supplies, he says, also alleging that workers were left isolated at sea off the coast of Guinea-Bissau, which has a poor record of upholding seafarers’ rights.

Antonio reports harsh conditions for the Guinean crew, who, he says, were mistreated by Chinese managers on board. “They don’t see us as equal to them,” he tells the Guardian at a cafe in Bissau port. “They only gave us rice to eat. Breakfast, lunch and dinner – just rice.” The Chinese staff had their own food and separate rooms, he says, while Guineans slept in bunk beds, 10 to a cabin.

Antonio has shared with the Guardian secretly recorded video footage showing tonnes of sardinella fresh from the sea travelling along an assembly line.

A man takes a small fish from a small net on a quayside. Several wooden boats are moored in the water behind him

The video footage, which is supported by the boats’ GPS records from Global Fishing Watch, suggests that tonnes of pelagic fish are being processed aboard. It appears to capture two Turkish boats in the illegal act of transshipment.

The apparent scale of the offshore fish processing operations are a double blow to food security and income in Guinea-Bissau, one of the world’s poorest countries. Fish are the source of a third of animal protein consumed, and the informal fishing industry employs 225,000 people from a population of 2.2 million, according to the Coalition For Fair Fisheries Arrangements (CFFA).

“The fishmeal industry is expanding in a context where small pelagic fish are already overexploited and illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing is widespread,” says Béatrice Gorez from CFFA, which supports artisanal fishers in west Africa. “This threatens artisanal fishers, women fish processors and food security in the entire region.”

The omega-3 fatty acids contained in low-cost sardinella, and other pelagic fish, are irreplaceable in local diets, in a country where 22% of people are malnourished.

“Sardinella is not just a commercial commodity; it is a critical source of protein for millions of people across West Africa,” says Ba, who campaigns against the fishmeal industry at Greenpeace.

Entering the EU market

The expansion of fishmeal operations at sea in Guinea-Bissau follows attempts by the country’s northern neighbours Mauritania, Senegal and the Gambia to limit the expansion on land of the industry, which has grown exponentially in the region in the last decade.

Industry-driven overfishing further north may be driving boats to Guinea-Bissau, according to biologist Paulo Catry, who has studied aquatic life in the Bijagós for nearly 30 years.

“This species is naturally much more abundant along the coasts of Mauritania and Senegal due to the upwelling phenomenon [the process by which deep, cold, nutrient-rich water rises to the surface], which does not affect Guinea-Bissau,” he explains. “Since it has not been exploited as heavily as in the northern countries, this species now appears to be more abundant here.”

Evidence obtained by the Guardian and DeSmog suggests that the floating factory Tian Yi He 6 has regularly illegally transshipped sacks of fishmeal on to cargo vessels that travel on to ports of Bissau and Dakar in Senegal, in one-tonne bags.

The Guardian and DeSmog used trade data to trace the onward journey of this fishmeal.

Exports were made from Tian Yi He 6 to companies in South America. Chinese company Bissau Wang Sheng (BWS) sold fish oil produced on Tian Yi He 6 to brokers in Chile, the world’s second-largest salmon producer, and shipments totalling 440 tonnes, valued at $1.7m (£1.3m), were sold in 2023 to Gisis SA, a company in Ecuador, which produces shrimp feed as part of Skretting, Dutch firm Nutreco’s aquaculture feed division.

“Fishmeal and fish oil can enter the EU market without documentation on the species or its origin,” says Vera Coelho, executive director at nonprofit organisation Oceana in Europe. “ This should not be allowed.”

A source at Skretting has confirmed that Gisis SA made a purchase from Guinea-Bissau in 2023 but says they were unable to “verify the accuracy of the claims and whether the fish was caught within the marine protected area” in a statement to the Guardian and DeSmog.

“At the time, the documentation received from our trader stated that the material complied with all local regulations,” they say. “Additionally, we confirm that there are no other cases from this origin in our global operations.”

Skretting says it has initiated an internal investigation into the findings. “Ensuring responsible and legal sourcing is fundamental to how we operate,” it says. Stating that the company has a “zero-tolerance policy” regarding illegal, unreported or unregulated (IUU) fishing, or activities that breach fisheries or conservation laws, Skretting says it is “committed to acting on any findings and taking corrective and legal measures where necessary”.

A landmark ban

The government in Guinea-Bissau did not respond to repeated requests for comment on the findings.

But after a coup in November, in late January the new authorities took the radical step to regulate. The minister of fisheries and maritime economy, Virginia Maria da Cruz Godinho Pires Correia, announced a sweeping ban on fishmeal and fish oil production on sea and on land, and suspended licences for purse‑seine fishing of small pelagic fish.

A conveyor belt of fish on a boat, with another boat moored beside it

The government was said to be under pressure from Senegal as well as the EU, which has a sustainable fisheries partnership agreement in place with Guinea-Bissau that bars it from fishing small pelagics to protect food security. The Guardian understands that the evidence of IUU fishing contained in our investigation was used to push for action.

Guinea-Bissau’s landmark step – going further than any of its neighbours – is hailed as a turning point by Oceana, Greenpeace and TMT. Papa Cá, the president of the Guinean Platform of Non-State Actors in Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture, has also welcomed the ban.

The challenge lies in enforcement, according to Dyhia Belhabib from Ecotrust Canada. “I don’t think that a ban will make them disappear,” she says. “At this point in time, Guinea-Bissau does not have the capacity to enforce control at sea.”

Back on Bubaque island, Cá confirms that the ice machine is still out of order. He says local fishers need investment in, among other things, cold storage to help them get fresh fish to market before it spoils.

“Only then can this measure [fishmeal ban] become a real opportunity to improve community incomes and promote food security in the country,” he says.

All the companies mentioned in this story were contacted for comment.

*Name has been changed to protect identity

Additional reporting by Regina Lam, Brigitte Wear and Hazel Healy

This story was produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center’s Ocean Reporting Network.

Read Entire Article