Environmental Justice Foundation logo, Protecting People and Planet A win for people and planet: Ghana has declared its first marine protected area Image of two people with a large bowl in the sea.

👏 Today, Ghana has declared its first Marine Protected Area (MPA) 🪸

We congratulate Minister Emelia Arthur for her outstanding leadership in delivering this incredible milestone. Her leadership and Hen Mpoano’s years of dedication and community engagement made this moment possible.

I look forward to continuing our work with the government of #Liberia and the government of #Ghana to support their efforts towards sustainable, legal and ethical fisheries.

#nfic2026

Collectively we would move forward knowing that “the true wealth of the blue economy is not what we take from the ocean, but what we build for our people because of it”, as said by Hon Emelia Arthur, Ghana’s Minister for Fisheries and Aquaculture during her remark at the event.

H.E. Joseph Boakai Sr., President of Liberia was spot on when he said, “IUU is a theft on the future of our children.” I draw hope from those words that together we will make Liberia's fisheries transparent and sustainable for us and the next generation.

Women in Liberia are 60% of the fisheries workforce. For their fisheries enterprise to succeed we must ensure the fisheries is legal and sustainable. We must tackle all forms of illegal fishing to keep our oceans alive and women-led fisheries enterprise, homes and coastal communities thriving.

I presented on how sustainable fisheries and community-led financing, such as Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLA), can support coastal communities, reduce poverty, and support women’s leadership. (VSLA reports links ejfoundation.org/reports/leve...; ejfoundation.org/reports/vsla...).

Late March I was on the Community development, livelihoods and social inclusion panel at National Fisheries Investment Conference (Kpongama) organised by the government of #Liberia and the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Authority (NaFAA).

Unseen and unaccountable: The growing threat of China’s squid fleet… This report exposes the alarming environmental and human rights toll of China’s distant-water squid fleet in the Southeast Pacific. It draws on…

Our new report draws on interviews with 81 fishers who worked on Chinese vessels.

Their testimonies revealed that labour rights violations and destructive fishing practices are routine - including physical violence, withholding of wages and medical care, and shark finning.

“We usually killed the shark. We took the fins. But I didn’t know where the fins were taken.”

@mongabay.com covered our report “Unseen and unaccountable”, revealing how poor management of the jumbo flying squid fishery in the South Pacific has allowed severe abuses to be committed with impunity.

Deputy CEO EJF is an international organisation with a diverse team working across four continents, united by a shared ambition: to protect people by protecting the…

🚨 Apply for the role of Deputy CEO now!

We’re looking for a values-driven, experienced and confident manager and leader with strategic vision, operational rigour, communications acumen and a deep commitment to justice.

Apply via the form on our job ad by 6pm GMT on Sunday 15th March:

"Leaving such vast trawlers unmonitored opens the door to serious unreported fishing, with potentially devastating consequences for ocean life and coastal fishing communities. Scotland's introduction [of CCTV]... is a decisive step forward." Steve Trent CEO and Founder Environmental Justice Foundation

To ensure fairer competition and protection for fish populations in EU-UK waters, we are calling on the rest of the UK and EU to follow suit and require REM on board all relevant pelagic vessels.

Eyes on the water: Tackling illegal fishing and human rights abuses… Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) and unsustainable fishing places immense pressure on the world’s oceans. These destructive practices go hand in…

As of March 7th, Scotland now requires cameras on board to monitor trawlers in its waters, which is a critical step towards greater transparency at sea.

Cameras on board vessels provide independent, verifiable evidence of vessel activities - what they catch and if they throw anything away.

Why the EU should follow Scotland and require CCTV on ‘supertrawlers’ Ten EU-linked freezer trawlers, all of them so-called supertrawlers over 100m long, spent an estimated 14,530 hours fishing in Scottish waters in the 12…

🚨 EU-owned supertrawlers are fishing without surveillance in Scottish waters 🐟

In our new briefing, we found that ten EU freezer supertrawlers spent an estimated 14,530 hours fishing in Scottish waters - over a year and a half of continuous fishing time - from February 2025-2026.

Read it now 👇

Why the EU should follow Scotland and require CCTV on ‘supertrawlers’ Ten EU-linked freezer trawlers, all of them so-called supertrawlers over 100m long, spent an estimated 14,530 hours fishing in Scottish waters in the 12…

Cameras provide independent, verifiable evidence of vessel activities so we can hold illegal actors accountable.

Our new briefing calls for the rest of the UK and the EU to follow Scotland and require cameras on board all relevant vessels - to level the playing field and curtail illegal discarding.

Fishing row explodes as EU supertrawlers scour Scottish waters EU-owned supertrawlers fished without 'proper oversight', environmental campaigners have warned.

Without eyes on the water, there is a high risk of illegal activities on board vessels, including the wasteful discarding of fish.

However, important steps are being taken to address this. As of last weekend, Scotland requires cameras on board to monitor trawlers in its waters.

Learn more 📰

A Global Toolkit for Participatory Fisheries Governance

With access to the right tools, communities can restore fish populations and secure their future.

Nsowa Immaculate Munkeng, EJF's Programme Officer for Francophone Africa, said: “Sustainable fisheries are strongest when communities are at the centre of decision-making and enforcement."

Autonomiser les communautés de pêcheurs pour protéger les eaux… The Environmental Justice Foundation exists to protect the natural world and defend our basic human right to a secure environment.

Over 8️⃣ days:
📱 We strengthened community patrols by training fishers to use the DASE app, which can be used to monitor and report vessels acting illegally.
💰 We provided direct funding to Local Collaborative Management Committees to support community-led fisheries management and surveillance.

🐟 Coastal fishing communities in Cameroon are stepping up to defend their waters from illegal fishing.

On a recent visit, our team provided training and technology to the two newly formed fisheries co-management associations in Yoyo and Mbiako, small fishing villages on Cameroon’s Atlantic coast.

Renforcer la protection communautaire des océans à Kribi et à Ebodjé:… The Environmental Justice Foundation exists to protect the natural world and defend our basic human right to a secure environment.

🌊 Community-led, EJF-supported

Our team visited our partner Tube Awu in Cameroon to run a targeted training through our Ocean Defenders programme.

By strengthening their organisational capacity, we hope to support sustainable livelihoods and protect marine ecosystems.

The road ahead is worrying, but there is reason to hope - this year, investment in clean energy has already surged.

We can achieve energy sovereignty and resilience, but only if we accelerate the green transition away from fossil fuels now.

🔗 Read more in the article:

EJF Land & Climate Review The fires of Hormuz: how is Trump's war reframing the energy transition? In a guest feature, Environmental Justice Foundation CEO Steve Trent discusses how the Middle East conflict will reshape global energy systems. By Steve Trent 2 April, 2026 Image in the background of solar panels and wind turbines

“The structural vulnerability that produced the crisis - civilisational dependence on a 21-mile waterway - will persist unless political leaders have the courage to lead its elimination.”

In @landclimate.bsky.social, @stevetrent.bsky.social discusses the impact Trump’s war will have on 🌍 energy.

Pantanal – Trailer YouTube video by Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF)

Nature recognises no borders. Safeguarding the Pantanal is a shared global responsibility essential for climate stability and wildlife.

Together, we will continue to ensure that the plight of the Pantanal’s species is heard at the highest levels of government. www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfyE...

A Manifesto from the Species of the Pantanal This manifesto calls for urgent action to protect the world's largest tropical wetland, the Pantanal, on behalf of the species that inhabit it. This…

Momentum for the biome continued during the President’s opening speech, where he signed a decree establishing over 100,000 hectares of new protected land in the Pantanal.

We applaud this expansion as a critical step to secure the wetland’s future 👏
ejfoundation.org/reports/a-ma...

🐆 A historic moment for the Pantanal at #COP15!

Our Chief Representative in Brazil, Luciana Leite, was honoured to meet with President Lula and First Lady Janja Lula da Silva. We presented them with "A Manifesto of the Species from the Pantanal".

📷 Photo credit: Ricardo Stuckert

Communications and Media Officer - Ghana Communications and Media Officer Position: Communications and Media Officer Based: EJF office in Cape Coast, Ghana Contract: Full-time, permanent Salary…

🚨 We’re #Hiring a Communications and Media Officer - Ghana!

This is a role for an ambitious and talented communications professional with exceptional copywriting and organisational skills, an eye for a compelling story, and the confidence to secure media coverage.

Apply by 30 April:

"Local communities are the frontline defenders of our oceans... Together, we can ensure that both people and nature thrive." Léa Moutard Global Programme Coordinator - Environmental Defenders Environmental Justice Foundation

During the visit, we provided them with the tools to build up their efforts to monitor fisheries and enhance their visual storytelling skills.

We partner with organisations like Tube Awu to amplify their impact, helping them protect marine ecosystems and empower communities.

"This training empowers community members with the skills to monitor environmental threats, document conservation efforts, and amplify their impact through storytelling and local engagement." Xavier Ndjamo Coordinator Tube Awu

Established in 2015, Tube Awu is a community-driven organisation dedicated to protecting marine and coastal biodiversity, safeguarding endangered species and supporting the well-being and prosperity of coastal communities.

🐢 Learn more about Tube Awu: tubeawu.org

We commend the efforts of President Mahama and Minister Arthur, who have shown real leadership in advancing fisheries reform.

Together, with support from the government and fishing communities, we can restore Ghana’s declining fish populations, strengthen food security and protect livelihoods.

Citizen scientists of the sea: the power of fisher inclusion in Ghana's closed season monitoring YouTube video by Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF)

To build trust, communities must feel a sense of ownership over the closed season. After training 120 fishers as citizen scientists, we found:

➡️ Almost half reported greater trust in regulators
➡️ 92% showed strong scientific understanding
➡️ 85% expressed a wish to participate in future training

🧪 Citizen science is the key to rebuilding fish populations in Ghana

Our research has found that when artisanal fishers are trained as citizen scientists and involved in fisheries management, long-term livelihoods for coastal communities are more secure. ourstories.ejfoundation.org/ghanas-fishe...