Six trawlers flying the Chinese flag were spotted off the coast of Djibouti in the past few weeks, flouting a ban and fishing in a protected coastal area near the town of Obock. Local fishermen, residents and activists immediately began protesting against the plundering of their resources… and, against all odds, they succeeded!
Hamid, a Djiboutian student and activist currently studying abroad, contacted the FRANCE 24 Observers team about a case of illegal fishing off the shores of Djibouti. Fishermen on the Fu Yuan Yu 98 86, a trawler flying a Chinese flag, were shamelessly casting their nets and raking the bottom of the Red Sea, less than five kilometres off the coast. They were seen carrying out the destructive practice of deep-sea trawling near the villages of Godoria and Khor Angar, between April 24 and May 3, 2017.