Environmental Justice Foundation
The charity works to secure a world where natural habitats and environments can sustain, and be sustained by, the communities that depend upon them for their basic needs and livelihoods. The charity operating method is to combine film-led investigations and evidence gathering from the frontlines of environmental destruction with high-level, targeted advocacy.
A small grant has been made towards the EJF’s work with coastal communities in Southern Sierra Leone to document illegal fishing in inshore areas. Since 2008 the charity has worked here to train and provide investigative equipment to key community members to respond to calls from fishers and other community members who witness IUU fishing (illegal, unreported, unregulated) undertaken by Eastern Asian water fleets which target high-value species in important nurseries and breeding grounds. Up to 75% of the catch is dumped dead or dying. The evidence gained is transmitted to governments and illegal fishing vessels have been fined and illegally caught seafood seized in European and Korean ports.
The grant will cover the cost of supporting the documentation of up to 8 incursions.