Illegal Fishmeal Factories Threaten Guinea-Bissau’s Bijagós Archipelago
The only ice factory on Bubaque, an island in west Africa’s Bijagós archipelago, is currently out of service. Local fishers, including Pedro Luis Pereira, must obtain ice from mainland factories approximately 70km away, requiring a six-hour round trip by boat.
“The machines have been broken for months,” Pereira states while pulling in his nets on the island’s shore within 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 sole fishing vessels permitted among the 88 islands comprising the archipelago. The shallow waters serve as a rich breeding ground for silver flat sardinella, which Pereira sells fresh at the Bissau market for 250 CFA francs (£0.33) per kilogram.
The tides govern when fishers can navigate the shallow archipelago waters. The sandbars act as nurseries for numerous species, leading some scientists to nickname the area “the Galápagos of west Africa” due to its populations of endangered turtles and manatees. Consequently, the region is protected, permitting only small-scale fishing.
Many species in the area depend on sardinella, a small oily fish. It is a crucial food source for migratory birds such as terns, which winter in the Bijagós in large numbers, as well as for barracudas, jacks, whales, and dolphins further offshore.
However, the abundant pelagic fish shoals attract industrial vessels fishing near the marine protected area boundary, which they are theoretically prohibited from entering.
Among the vessels operating in 2025 was the Hua Xin 17, a 125-metre vessel longer than a football field. Though listed as a cargo ship in maritime databases, a joint investigation by and DeSmog reveals it is a Chinese-owned floating factory processing fresh sardinella into fishmeal and oil by the tonne.
Eyewitness accounts, exclusive video footage, and satellite data indicate that a group of Turkish boats supplying the Hua Xin 17 have routinely fished sardinella illegally within the Bijagós protected waters.
This factory is one of two ships anchored offshore that have illicitly processed up to hundreds of thousands of tonnes of freshly caught sardinella into fishmeal and oil.
Trade data analysis by and DeSmog shows that this fishmeal enters international supply chains.
Aliou Ba, oceans campaigner at Greenpeace, states, “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.”
Disabling Detection Systems and Offshore Processing
The Hua Xin 17, a relatively new vessel in these waters, was anchored for 157 days in 2025 approximately 50km off Orango island, known for its rare saltwater hippos.
This discovery adds to evidence of expanding offshore processing factories in Guinea-Bissau, turning hundreds of tonnes of fresh fish daily.
Another offshore fishmeal factory, the Tian Yi He 6, spent 244 days moored about 60km from Orango island in 2025, emitting black smoke.
The Tian Yi He 6 has operated near the Bijagós for over five years and has a history of violating Guinea-Bissau’s laws.
Trygg Mat Tracking (TMT), a Norwegian fisheries intelligence nonprofit collaborating with Guinea-Bissau’s fisheries inspection authority Fiscap, has monitored fishmeal vessels since 2019, when the Tian Yi He 6 arrived. Initially sailing under Dominica’s flag, it switched to China in early 2020.
TMT’s intelligence, supported by the Joint Analytical Cell, reveals ongoing breaches of fisheries and transshipment laws. Between 2019 and 2020, the owner and captain of Tian Yi He 6 and the owner of the small seiner Ilhan Yilmaz 3 were fined for unauthorized fishmeal processing and illegal transshipments. Seine fishing involves using long, deep nets to capture large fish quantities.
Satellite records from Global Fishing Watch (GFW), a nonprofit monitoring fishing activity, show six Turkish seiners, including Ilhan Yilmaz 3, supplying the two offshore factories.
These Turkish purse seiners are licensed to fish within Guinea-Bissau’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), extending 200 miles (322km) from the coast, where fishing is permitted with government licenses and where the Hua Xin 17 and Tian Yi He 6 operate. However, they are not authorized to transship at sea or fish inside the Bijagós protected waters.
Evidence suggests the Tian Yi He 6 has regularly transshipped sacks of fishmeal illegally.
GFW satellite data strongly indicates that Turkish boats supplying the offshore factories fish illegally inside the protected area.
As vessels Turk Yilmaz, Ilker Yilmaz, Ilhan Yilmaz 1, and Ilhan Yilmaz 3 approach the restricted Bijagós boundaries, they routinely disable their Automatic Identification System (AIS) signals, which broadcast GPS data and vessel identity. This practice often signals illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing activities.
The AIS signals from these boats, all linked to the same company, briefly appear near the fishmeal factories and then near Bissau port or during voyages to and from Nouadhibou port in Mauritania, a major fishmeal hub.
Transshipment of fish from these seiners to the floating factories usually occurs with AIS systems turned off, enabling thousands of tonnes of illegally caught fish to be exported without passing through Bissau ports.
“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.
Testimony from Onboard Crew and Harsh Conditions
Boat movement records and activities are corroborated by testimony from Antonio*, a local sailor who spent seven months aboard the Hua Xin 17 in 2024. He reports that 25 crew members worked in six-hour shifts processing sardinella on the ship.
A smaller boat transported sacks of fishmeal to Bissau port and returned with supplies. Antonio alleges workers were isolated at sea off Guinea-Bissau’s coast, a country with a poor record on seafarers’ rights.
Antonio describes harsh conditions for Guinean crew mistreated by Chinese managers: “They don’t see us as equal to them. They only gave us rice to eat. Breakfast, lunch and dinner – just rice.” The Chinese staff had separate food and rooms, while Guineans slept ten to a cabin in bunk beds.
Antonio shared secretly recorded video footage with showing tonnes of fresh sardinella moving along an assembly line onboard.
The footage, supported by GPS data from Global Fishing Watch, suggests large quantities of pelagic fish are processed aboard and appears to capture two Turkish boats conducting illegal transshipments.
The scale of offshore fish processing operations negatively impacts food security and income in Guinea-Bissau, one of the world’s poorest countries. Fish provide a third of animal protein consumed, and the informal fishing sector employs a significant portion of the 2.2 million population, 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 food security in the region.”
The omega-3 fatty acids in affordable sardinella and other pelagic fish are irreplaceable in local diets, with 22% of the population undernourished.
“Sardinella is not just a commercial commodity; it is a critical source of protein for millions of people across West Africa,” says Ba, Greenpeace’s fishmeal industry campaigner.
Fishmeal Industry Expansion and EU Market Entry
Fishmeal operations at sea in Guinea-Bissau have expanded following attempts by northern neighbors Mauritania, Senegal, and the Gambia to restrict onshore industry growth, which has surged in the last decade.
Industry-driven overfishing further north may be pushing vessels toward 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 [deep, cold, nutrient-rich water rising to the surface], which does not affect Guinea-Bissau,” Catry 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 and DeSmog indicates the Tian Yi He 6 has regularly transshipped fishmeal illegally onto cargo vessels bound for Bissau and Dakar ports, packed in one-tonne bags.
Trade data traces fishmeal exports from Tian Yi He 6 to South American companies. 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. Shipments totaling 440 tonnes, valued at $1.7m (£1.3m), were sold in 2023 to Gisis SA in Ecuador, which produces shrimp feed for Skretting, the aquaculture feed division of Dutch firm Nutreco.
Vera Coelho, executive director at nonprofit Oceana in Europe, states, “Fishmeal and fish oil can enter the EU market without documentation on the species or its origin. This should not be allowed.”
A Skretting source confirmed Gisis SA purchased fishmeal from Guinea-Bissau in 2023 but said they could not verify the claims or whether the fish was caught within the marine protected area.
“At the time, the documentation received from our trader stated that the material complied with all local regulations,” the source said. “Additionally, we confirm that there are no other cases from this origin in our global operations.”
Skretting, which produces shrimp feed, is investigating ’s findings.
Skretting stated, “Ensuring responsible and legal sourcing is fundamental to how we operate. We have a zero-tolerance policy regarding illegal, unreported or unregulated (IUU) fishing or activities breaching fisheries or conservation laws. We are committed to acting on any findings and taking corrective and legal measures where necessary.”
Government Response and Enforcement Challenges
The Guinea-Bissau government did not respond to repeated requests for comment on the investigation’s findings.
However, following a coup in November, the new authorities took decisive action in late January. Minister of Fisheries and Maritime Economy Virginia Maria da Cruz Godinho Pires Correia announced a comprehensive ban on fishmeal and fish oil production both at sea and on land and suspended licenses for purse-seine fishing of small pelagic fish.
The government reportedly faced pressure from Senegal and the EU, which has a sustainable fisheries partnership agreement with Guinea-Bissau prohibiting small pelagic fishing to protect food security. understands that evidence of IUU fishing from this investigation helped prompt the government’s action.
Guinea-Bissau’s ban, more extensive than those of neighboring countries, is hailed as a turning point by Oceana, Greenpeace, and TMT. Papa Cá, president of the Guinean Platform of Non-State Actors in Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture, also supports the ban.
Enforcement remains a challenge. Dyhia Belhabib from Ecotrust Canada notes,
“I don’t think that a ban will make them disappear. At this point in time, Guinea-Bissau does not have the capacity to enforce control at sea.”
Back on Bubaque island, Cá confirms the ice machine remains broken. He emphasizes the need for investment in infrastructure such as cold storage to help local fishers bring fresh fish to market before spoilage.
“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 companies mentioned in this report 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.
