02x10 - Fish Pirates

[bunniefuu]

♪ ♪

PETER HAMMERSTEDT:
We have to do this

under the cover of darkness.

There could be eyes watching us.

It's only through
a stealth mission, really,

that we'll have any success

intercepting
an ill*gal operator.

MARIANA VAN ZELLER:
I'm on the trail

of what some consider
the perfect crime.

A black market worth
more than $20 billion,

with little risk
of getting caught.

I'm told it's
like robbing a bank

in the middle of the ocean.

So you see these lights
out there on the ocean,

those are the six
super trawlers.

PETER: One of the reasons
that we're all black

is so that these super trawlers

don’t see that a patrol
is under way,

that they don’t see us
leaving the harbor.

MARIANA: Somewhere out there
in the darkness

are the most prolific
wildlife poachers on the planet.

Who are they?
How do they work?

And why is it so hard
to stop them?

I thought I knew black markets,

but I’ve never seen
anything like this.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

PETER: In this mass
expanse of water,

we're looking for ships

that are doing everything
that they can to hide.

♪ ♪

MARIANA: I've come to Liberia

to understand how
ill*gal fishing works.

PETER: These trawlers
come in direct conflict

with the local fishermen,

because they're
literally stealing fish

from the local communities here.

MARIANA: Some countries
have the resources

to protect their own waters
from poachers;

others don’t.

That's why Liberia
has enlisted the help

of an international organization
called Sea Shepherd.

On board are a 30‐person crew,
the Liberian Coast Guard

and my guide
to this joint patrol,

20‐year Sea Shepherd veteran
Peter Hammerstedt.

Peter currently heads

Sea Shepherd’s task force
in Africa,

a region plagued by overfishing.

What’s causing the overfishing?

PETER: You have a European fleet

that's at a massive
overcapacity,

two and a half times
what it could sustainably fish

in European waters.

You have a Chinese
distant water fishing fleet

that has essentially wiped out
fisheries off the coast of China

and that is now seeking
waters to fish elsewhere.

And these two
massive fishing fleets

from Europe, from China,

have congregated in areas

where, historically,
there still has been fish.

Places like West Africa.

MARIANA:
There's no global framework

that governs what is legal
in the fishing industry.

That’s a huge part
of the problem.

And in places like West Africa,

foreign trawlers can take
advantage of patchy regulation,

poor enforcement

and the rampant corruption
of some local officials.

It's a low‐risk,
high‐reward crime,

but the Sea Shepherd
is trying to change that.

PETER: Six miles offshore,
no industrial vessels

are allowed inside
of an inshore exclusion zone.

But when there's no
patrolling presence at sea,

these trawlers routinely turn
off their location transponders,

and they go in.

MARIANA: Every large commercial
fishing vessel is equipped

with an Automatic
Identification System, or AIS,

which transmits
its position at sea.

If I were to be
fishing ill*gal

inside the exclusion zones,

as a captain of a ship,
I would turn off the AIS?

PETER: You’d get close
to the prohibited area.

That’s when you would
turn your AIS off.

And you wouldn't
reappear on AIS

until you’ve left
that prohibited area.

MARIANA: In order
to directly observe

suspicious fishing vessels,

we need to get closer to them
and avoid being detected.

That means we wait for the cover
of nightfall again.

♪ ♪

WOMAN: So these are the vessels
that we are looking at.

At the moment they are about
three miles away from us.

MARIANA: We’re super close
to this trawler, right?

WOMAN: At the moment, yes.
We can see them.

MARIANA: Oh, you can
actually see them?

PETER: Yeah.

MARIANA: Oh, it’s that,
what, light over there.

WOMAN: Yes.

MARIANA: So that’s the boat
we're going after?

WOMAN: Yes.

MARIANA: The Sea Shepherd crew
has found and identified

a trawler with a known history
of turning off its AIS.

What have you guys been able
to find out about this boat?

PETER: There's not that much
known about this vessel,

which is suspicious
in and of itself.

We know that this vessel has
a long history of dark periods,

where they turn off
their location transponder.

And we know that they've done
some suspicious identity changes

in, especially, claiming
to be a Somali vessel,

as soon as
a month and a half ago.

Uh, this is a vessel

that we think is most likely
flagged to Senegal,

but with a beneficial owner
that’s in Spain.

MARIANA: Peter has a long
history with the Spanish.

Back in the early 2000s,

one out of every three fish
in the Antarctic

was being caught illegally...

most by Spanish‐owned vessels.

Some were brought to justice,
but six trawlers kept at it,

evading authorities
by changing their colors,

their flags
and even their names.

They were known
as the Bandit 6.

The most notorious, a vessel
that made millions

poaching Chilean sea bass,
was known as the Thunder.

And Peter helped bring it down.

PETER: We found the Thunder
fishing in a CCAMLR region.

They’re not licensed
to fish down here.

There’s an Interpol Purple
Notice issued for this vessel.

We've told the vessel
that they're under arrest

and we've told them
to go to Fremantle, Australia.

We saw this vessel
emerge out of the fog.

PETER: That would begin
what ultimately would become

the longest maritime pursuit
in history.

The chase stretched
across three oceans,

covering 11,000 nautical miles,
and covered 110 days.

(ship horn blowing)

MARIANA: And then
in the end what happened?

PETER: Ultimately, unable
to shake us as the pursuers,

the captain of the Thunder
decided to sink his own ship,

in an attempt to destroy
the evidence on board.

MARIANA: Were they able to?

PETER:
As they abandoned the ship,

three of my crew boarded
the vessel with cameras.

They were able to seize
nautical charts, mobile phones,

computer hard drives,

evidence that was
turned over to Interpol,

who then used that evidence
to chase down the owner.

She’s going down.

MARIANA: Although several
crew members of the Thunder

were sent to prison,

the shipowner, like the owners
of the other Bandit 6 vessels,

remained free.

And Peter is confident that many
of those same players

are still active in
the ill*gal fishing game today.

WOMAN: At the moment,
they cannot see us.

They can probably see
a very small red light,

but not able to ID what we are.

PETER: And we've also
reduced the speed,

so we're matching their speed
of about three knots,

which is a speed
indicative of fishing.

So if they're just looking
at us on radar,

they’re going to think
that we’re another trawler.

MARIANA: Mmm.

So it's the perfect way to
approach a situation like this,

for a covert mission
like this one, I guess?

PETER: The perfect way
to surprise a fishing boat

is to pretend that you
are a fishing boat.

MARIANA: Hmm.

PETER: The plan tonight

is that we’ll be assisting
the Liberian Coast Guard.

Kanbal III claims to be
a shrimp trawler

but may be doing something
very, very different.

MARIANA: In 2017,

the Kanbal III was approached
by another joint patrol,

conducted by Senegalese fishing
authorities and Greenpeace.

For more than 20 minutes,
Kanbal III's captain

ignored radio requests
to slow down

and to allow inspection.

(man shouting)

MARIANA: Once the Senegalese
authorities finally boarded,

they discovered
Kanbal III's nets

had been manipulated to create
a smaller mesh size,

thereby capturing more fish.

This is ill*gal
in most of the world.

They also discovered
that the crew

had attempted to undo
their net modifications

prior to inspection.

(man shouting)

MARIANA: How dangerous
are these operations?

WOMAN: What we are doing
carries some risks.

But we have the Liberian
Coast Guard with us.

We have a trained crew, and
that’s what we are here for.

(radio chatter)

MARIANA: Being in a small boat
on the open ocean at night

is an unnerving experience.

It's cold,
you can't see a thing,

and you’re surrounded on
all sides by deep, dark water.

♪ ♪

It’s scary.

You feel small and helpless.

♪ ♪

As we get closer
to the Kanbal III,

I’m struck by the danger
of what we’re about to do.

(man speaking foreign language)

MARIANA: Not only are we
attempting to board a ship

in the open ocean at night,

but we have no idea what
or who we'll find on board.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

(officer shouting)

MARIANA: I'm with the crew
of the Sea Shepherd

and the Liberian Coast Guard

as they board a fishing trawler
called the Kanbal III

that’s been exhibiting
suspicious behavior.

♪ ♪

MARIANA: Pedro.

So, the captain
is actually Portuguese.

I just saw his passport
right here.

MARIANA: Certa.

MARIANA: Mm‐hmm.

MARIANA: Mm‐hmm.

He seems uncomfortable
with my questions,

which makes me even more curious

about what might be found
on the boat.

MARIANA: Okay.

We go over the ship’s documents,

and it looks like their license

allows them to trawl
for shrimp and crab.

But the Liberian Coast Guard
needs to see proof

that they’re fishing
by the rules.

So they ask the captain
to reel in the nets.

Oh, wow. So you can see the fish
starting to come in.

They’re opening up the nets?

Oh, wow.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Okay, and this is essentially
what they have

the actual license
to be fishing right now,

is the shrimp.

I mean, I grew up
eating this, you know,

this is called lagostim
in Portugal.

I grew up eating
this kind of shrimp.

PETER: Here the shrimp
is maybe not even 1/10

of what the catch is, right?

And that's pretty typical
of a shrimp fishery,

this enormous amount of bycatch.

MARIANA:
Bycatch refers to the fish

or other marine species
that are caught unintentionally

while fishing
for a specific target.

In this case, shrimp.

To me, you know,
looking at some of these

and knowing that each
of these shrimp in Portugal

on a plate at a restaurant,

they can sell
for about 20 euros each,

and you can see the amount
of money that can be made,

not by these guys,
but by the big bosses, right?

The people that are actually
making the money from, you know,

thousands and thousands
and thousands of dollars

that we’re seeing worth
of shrimp on this boat.

PETER: And here these guys
are making $150 a month.

This is not‐‐like, the economics
of this does not trickle down.

MARIANA: It's an ugly reality,

but still no sign
of ill*gal activity.

So, I make my way
down to the cargo hold,

where the catch
is frozen and kept.

So, it says cangrejos, crab;
gamba, shrimp;

and, uh, captured in the
Atlantic, so very, very vague.

And then heading
towards Vigo, España,

and it says the importer...

yeah, which is a Spanish name.

Have you heard of this company?

WOMAN: Yeah, yeah.
We've heard of them before.

Based in Vigo, which is a city
in Galicia, a region of Spain.

PETER: You could tell
the captain was a bit evasive.

He didn't want to say that
the real ownership of the vessel

is in Spain.

There's Spanish language
documents on the bridge,

there's documentation
on the cartons of fish

that everything’s
being exported to Spain.

To Vigo, Spain,
which is Galicia,

which is really the heart of
fishing in Spain, in particular.

MARIANA: And yet,
despite Peter's suspicions,

there's no evidence
of ill*gal activity.

PETER: Today the Liberian Coast
Guard has to let this ship go.

MARIANA: So the nets
of the Kanbal III

will soon be back in the water.

♪ ♪

I spent almost a week
on the Sea Shepherd

and learned one of the great
ironies of the fishing world‐‐

that despite the fact that
almost 20% of our seafood

comes from the black market,

it’s nearly impossible
to catch anyone red‐handed.

But I’m not giving up.

I'm determined to find my way

inside this world
of ill*gal fishing.

PAUL WOODS: Yeah, this is
the global footprint of fishing,

mostly industrial fishing.

MARIANA: That's all the green
that I'm seeing right here,

all these little green squares?

PAUL: Yeah, each one of these

is an area where vessels
are fishing.

MARIANA: Uh‐huh.

PAUL: There’s 50,000
vessels out there.

MARIANA: 50,000?
PAUL: Doing, yeah.

MARIANA: Industrial, commercial?

PAUL: Yeah, just the big ones.

MARIANA: 50,000?

PAUL: Yeah, right.
50,000 vessels around the world.

MARIANA: Perhaps as much as 20%
of seafood brought into the U. S.

comes from the black market.

Yet, I’m still searching
for a way inside.

I’m hoping Paul Woods can
point me in the right direction.

He's the co‐founder
of Global Fishing Watch,

a non‐profit that uses
state‐of‐the‐art data analysis

to monitor fishing vessels
around the world.

So if you are doing
ill*gal activities out at sea,

what are the chances you'll
actually be caught, in general?

PAUL: In well‐regulated
countries,

there’s a good chance
you’ll get caught.

This is clear because
the U. S. is good at managing.

In Hawaii there’s lots
of fish out here,

but they, uh, the, you know,
the U. S. Navy keeps them out.

Whereas, uh, in Africa,
in West Africa,

all the foreign fleets,
Spain and China, Korea, Japan,

and the United States,
you know,

they all just fish in there,

and they're not,
they don't keep them out,

because they’re not good
at keeping them out.

We've had issues where
we've seen vessels on the map

doing something
we know is ill*gal,

we report it to the authorities,
and we tell them,

"This vessel is fishing
in your waters,

it’s not on your registry list,
it's clearly ill*gal,"

and then we find out

that they were retroactively
granted a license to fish.

So this happens routinely.

MARIANA: Hmm. And why
do you think that is?

PAUL: Uh, well, because there's,
there's money to be made

in, uh, fishing
and, uh, licensing fishing.

You know, and that is,
you know, more powerful

than the need to keep
the fishery sustainable.

MARIANA: How frustrating
is it for you?

PAUL: Uh, it’s,
it’s pretty frustrating.

What you need is
for the fishers to know

that eventually, even if they're
not caught in the act,

they’re going to, you know,
face consequences

for breaking the rules.

MARIANA: But right now,
that’s not happening.

In fact, the criminals are using

the globalized nature of
the industry to their advantage.

PAUL: The vessel fishes
in one country,

it lands the catch
in another country,

it's flagged in a third country,

and it’s owned by someone
in a fourth country,

and that’s where
all the money goes.

So how can you even police it?

There's four countries involved
that all have to cooperate

in order to actually create
consequences for that owner

for their ill*gal actions
that happen on the water.

MARIANA: That's why
some shipowners take advantage

of what's called
"flags of convenience."

They register their vessel
in a foreign country

with limited oversight,

often as a way to skirt
regulations at home

or avoid detection abroad.

PAUL:
It’s a global supply chain.

Everything gets mingled
and flows around.

So once, once it comes off
the boat and goes into that,

it’s really hard to trace.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

MARIANA: The shrimp I saw
on the Kanbal III

is bound for Vigo, Spain,

home to the largest
fishing port in Europe.

Every year, more than
700,000 tons of catch

are offloaded here.

The fish are sorted,
sold and distributed

to countries around the globe,
including the U. S.

It’s a massive operation.

High‐tech, spotlessly clean,
rigorously controlled.

Every crate of fish is weighed,
catalogued, and barcoded,

so buyers know exactly
when and where it was caught.

(speaking Spanish)

MARIANA:
That’s the theory, anyway.

In reality, any one of the
hundreds of species on sale here

could have been
transferred at sea

from an ill*gal fishing vessel

to a vessel carrying
the paperwork

to make its cargo
look legitimate.

(speaking Spanish)

MARIANA: Once the contraband
fish has been mixed

with a legal catch
in a ship's freezers,

it’s impossible
to tell them apart.

It's one common way
that ill*gal seafood

gets laundered
into the legal supply chain.

But I haven’t come
to Spain for the fish.

I’ve come for the fishermen.

The ones that have given Galicia
its rather notorious reputation.

PETER: Galicia has always been
a smuggling portal for Europe.

They've been involved in
trafficking not just of fish,

but of drugs and tobacco

and other illicit
products as well.

The companies behind vessels
involved in the poaching

of Patagonian
and Antarctic toothfish,

they’re known
as the Galician Mafia.

MARIANA: I want to find someone

who's worked
on these ill*gal vessels

and knows the secrets
of this dirty trade firsthand.

After asking around a bit,
I meet a retired fisherman

who says he’ll
give it to me straight.

♪ ♪

MARIANA: Perico is
a retired fisherman.

He says he spent 35 years
working on Spanish vessels

in the frigid North Atlantic.

Perico tells me
that his career at sea

was marked by constant
ill*gal activity.

MARIANA: Mm‐hmm.

MARIANA: But when I press Perico

for the names of the worst
offenders, he clams up.

MARIANA: Mm‐hmm.

MARIANA: And there’s the rub.

Spanish fishing is,
at its heart, a family business.

A very big family business
that keeps its secrets close.

But then, a new lead.

Remember the Bandit 6?

One of which the Sea Shepherd
chased for 110 days

before the captain
purposely sank his boat?

Well, I was able to connect
with a local journalist

who has access to
a treasure trove of documents

relating to the investigation
of those vessels

and the ensuing court case.

If I want to find a source

deeper in this
ill*gal fishing world,

this could be my chance.

How does the fact that
we're talking about these,

you know, very wealthy companies

with fleets of boats
and fancy websites

and a lot of lawyers, how does
that complicate matters for you

in terms of being a journalist
and investigating this?

MAN: I have to be careful,
and, uh...

MARIANA: Can you tell me
a little bit

about what all these
documents are?

MAN: Those documents
are the outcome

of the, probably
the best investigation

on ill*gal fishing.

8,000 pages.

MARIANA: 8,000 pages?

MAN: 8,000 pages.

The investigation
was led by Interpol,

together with
the Spanish Guardia Civil,

on the Bandit 6.

MARIANA: I mean, they were
caught red‐handed.

There's plenty of evidence
that they were,

what they were doing
was ill*gal, right?

MAN: Everything is proved here,
in all the documents,

that those Bandit 6
were committing crimes.

MARIANA: Incredibly,
the Spanish Supreme Court

overturned the case against
the shipowners of the Bandit 6.

They decided that,

while the Bandit 6
did commit ill*gal activity,

the courts did not have
jurisdiction,

because those
ill*gal acts occurred

in international waters.

MAN: Here, we have
all the coordinators

of the fishing activities
from Galicia.

MARIANA: Wow. So, these
are the names and contacts?

MAN: Yeah.
MARIANA: All the coordinators?

MAN: That’s it. That's it.

MARIANA: Wow, this is great.

MAN: And in this all documents,

you have all the phone numbers
and some emails of those guys.

So you can try.

MARIANA: So they’ve all
actually been indicted, these?

MAN: Yeah. We have the name
of some offshore companies

used by those guys
of the Bandit 6.

MARIANA: There’s evidence of
money laundering in this one.

MAN: Yeah, no doubt about it.

MARIANA: And here
you have the whole list

of the crewmen from this boat.

You have the captain,
the chief engineer, the cook,

and then all the officers.

There’s phone numbers
for this one, too.

Passport numbers,
lots of photos, bank accounts.

There’s just so much here.

You see that the chief engineer
and the officer and the captain

are all Spanish.

And there are Spanish numbers
associated with them.

This is big‐‐

lists of names and numbers

of people directly involved
in the Bandit 6

and who might know what ill*gal
activities are still ongoing.

(phone ringing)

(beep beep beep)

MARIANA: Calling another person

that we know worked
one of the Bandit 6 boats.

(beep beep beep)

MARIANA: He hung up.

MARIANA: Okay.

MAN: No, no, no, no, no. No, no.

(ringing)

MARIANA:
Pick up, pick up, pick up.

MARIANA: Two and half hours now,

we’ve been making
call after call.

(ringing)

¿Hola?

MARIANA: So, today,
this afternoon, here in Vigo.

Great.

I finally secured
a face‐to‐face meeting

with a former crew member
from a Bandit 6 fishing boat.

He’s texted me a location
on the outskirts of the city.

I think this is it.

Okay, here we are.

♪ ♪

I think it’s here.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

¿Hola?

♪ ♪

¿Hola?

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

MARIANA:
The man I'm talking to‐‐

we’ll call him Luis‐‐

spent time working on one
of the Bandit 6 boats,

as well as dozens
of other Spanish vessels

throughout his career.

He's my key to understanding
how ill*gal fishing works

at an international level.

MARIANA: Wow.

MARIANA: We have no knowledge
that any of the ships we boarded

had double bottoms
or ill*gal nets.

But it sounds like that was
standard operating procedure

on the Spanish ships
that Luis worked on.

And that wasn’t the only way
they skirted regulations.

MARIANA: Mm‐hmm.

MARIANA: Mm‐hmm.

Luis explains that within
the fishing industry,

it’s the shipowners who have
the power to make change.

But those are the same folks

who are profiting the most
off the status quo.

MARIANA: He’s right.

The real issue is not the need

for more regulations
or enforcement.

It’s our relationship
to the oceans themselves.

I've been so focused on trying
to understand the black market‐‐

boat owners exploiting

a disorganized
international system,

fishermen using altered nets,

captains turning off
AIS trackers‐‐

that I’ve overlooked
the obvious.

A bigger, more devastating truth
about industrial fishing.

SYLVIA EARLE: The impact of
ill*gal fishing is enormous,

but it is relatively small

compared to the impact
of legal fishing.

MARIANA: Sylvia Earle
is an oceanographer

and the founder of Mission Blue,

a non‐profit dedicated
to protecting our oceans.

She doesn't mince words
when it comes to her opinions

about the global
fishing industry.

SYLVIA: This is the biggest
wildlife trade on the planet.

We’re waging w*r on the ocean.

And we're doing it
with a big smile on our face,

thinking, "This is great.
We have technologies now

that can go to places
we couldn't go before,

finding fish that were
not accessible before."

MARIANA: Her words echo
so much of what I've seen

over the last few months.

PETER: Shrimp is
maybe not even 1/10

of what the catch is, right?

And that's pretty typical
of a shrimp fishery,

this enormous amount of bycatch.

I, I always refer to bycatch

as the invisible victims
of industrial fishing.

MARIANA: The invisible victims
of industrial fishing.

In other words,
a waste of animal life

like I’ve never seen before.

It's difficult to watch
and even harder to fathom

that it's all legal,
happening every day and night

on trawlers around the globe.

NEWS ANCHOR:
The stocks of tropical tuna

in the Indian Ocean
have been overfished.

NEWS ANCHOR: Human exploitation
of the world's oceans

is passing the point
of no return.

ANNOUNCER: Endless Shrimp.

It's as much as you like,
any way you like.

NEWS ANCHOR: A huge wealth
of creatures and habitats

are under threat,
decimated by overfishing.

ANNOUNCER: Our awesome,
mouthwatering snow crab dinner,

for only $9.99.

ANNOUNCER:
Have it all this summer

with the Crab Daddy Feast.

PAUL: Industrial and commercial
fishing is scaled up so much

that it really is a lot more
like mining than fishing.

These nets are enormous.

And they just take everything.

All the fish within a kilometer
out of the water all at once.

You’re literally mining
the ocean of fish, of all life.

SYLVIA: We have the capacity
to deplete wildlife

on a scale
that is unprecedented.

Technology is available
to almost everyone everywhere

to find, capture, consume,
or market ocean wildlife

on a scale that is simply,

no matter how you want
to measure it,

it’s not sustainable.

MARIANA: It’s this future
that has me worried.

But even today, there are
plenty of warning signs

if you know where to look.

The experts I spoke with pointed
me to the coast of Ghana,

where a local fishing community
has been transformed

in ways I’m told
I won’t believe.

♪ ♪

(beep)
(woman shouts)

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

MARIANA: We got a call
late last night

saying to be at the port
at 5 a. m. this morning

because they had something
that they wanted to show us.

Um...

we're still not sure what
we'll be able to film or see,

but all we know is that
we're meeting this person

in about five minutes.

The call came from a local
fisherman turned crime boss

who's known simply
as the Chairman.

I was introduced to him
by a contact of mine,

but the Chairman has been
difficult to pin down.

I see a couple of boats
with lights here.

People working inside.
Let's check.

(unbuckles seatbelt)

(car door slams)

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Over here?

♪ ♪

(man talking)

MARIANA: Is this it?

(man talking)

MARIANA: I guess this is it.

Yeah, come in?

Looks like that’s
the Chairman on the phone.

His name is Justice.

MARIANA: Yeah, very fast.
We're very fast.

Okay, we have to go, guys!

♪ ♪

We pass by one fishing boat

that strangely doesn’t have
any fishing gear.

They are clearly unhappy
about our cameras.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

This is one of the boats
that came out from sea today?

Can we stop there
and talk to them?

It’s another fishing boat,
again with no fishing gear.

♪ ♪

MARIANA: Oh, wow.

Look at that.

It’s all big blocks
of frozen fish.

So the whole boat is fill,
is all full of that?

CHAIRMAN: Yes.

MARIANA: These Ghanaians
used to fish for themselves,

but an influx
of foreign trawlers

has caused fish stocks
to plummet.

So, now, in a perverse twist
of their livelihood,

these fishermen go out to sea
and buy blocks of fish

that have been caught and frozen
by the trawlers themselves.

This came out from the sea?

CHAIRMAN: Yeah.

MARIANA: From the trawlers?
CHAIRMAN: Yeah.

MARIANA: Yeah.

So they would throw it away,
and instead...

CHAIRMAN: Yeah.

MARIANA: ...the fishermen
go out and pick it.

CHAIRMAN: Yeah.

MARIANA: How far
are the Chinese vessels?

CHAIRMAN: 12 hours.

MARIANA: 12 hours to get there?

Through forces
beyond his control,

the Chairman has been dragged
into an ill*gal seafood trade

known as Saiko.

You have been working
as a fisherman

for a very long time.

MARIANA: You’re originally
an artisanal fisher.

CHAIRMAN: Yeah, yeah.

MARIANA: And so,
since this is ill*gal,

why did you agree to talk to us?

CHAIRMAN: Well...

MARIANA: It’s not.

MARIANA: Right, that it
helps a lot of people.

CHAIRMAN: Yeah.

MARIANA: So, what do you
say to people

who say what the trawlers
are doing

is that they are
destroying the oceans,

they're k*lling all this fish,

and you are
contributing to that

because you are buying
this bycatch?

MARIANA: Right.

MARIANA: Right.

MARIANA: The reality
is even more depressing.

What started out as foreign
trawlers selling their bycatch

has become so established
and so profitable

that many foreign ships

are now purposely targeting
local fish, which, of course,

has only made
the overfishing problem worse.

This is the trickle‐down effect
of our global fishing industry‐‐

a local population so powerless
to stop the overfishing

that it’s now been forced
to embrace a black market.

(crowd murmur)

Oh, wow.
So, this is all the...

CHAIRMAN: Yes. Yeah.

This is the Saiko fish.

MARIANA: Another one there.

Make no mistake about what
you’re looking at here.

This is a fishing town that now
survives on frozen fish.

I mean, it’s incredible.

You look around, and all of it
is basically Saiko.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

You can see, it's just
boat after boat,

and all of them
are filled with fish,

and they’re bringing
all the fish now to shore.

They cover it with blankets to
keep it cold, to keep it frozen.

Oh, wow! Look at that!

Holy (bleep).

That is insane!

So much.

So you can see
how big this boat is.

CHAIRMAN: Yeah, yeah.

MARIANA: And then every single
one of these, basically, holds,

is filled, filled, filled
with frozen fish.

CHAIRMAN: Yes.

MARIANA: Yeah, it’s out.
It's open.

♪ ♪

PAUL: We can’t do this forever.

There will come a point
where we don’t have fish.

And the people that will suffer

are the people that go out
to fish every day

to feed their families.

But it won't be the owners
of the companies

that took all the fish.

They’ll just go
do something else.

MARIANA: I'm almost embarrassed
to admit how blind I've been

to the ugly truth about
our global fishing industry.

But I can’t unsee
what I’ve seen on this journey.

The industry needs to change.

We all do.

SYLVIA: Taking wild animals
from the ocean

and turning it into money
or products...

there’s a cost.

There’s a cost to everyone.

It’s not free.

♪ ♪