Raking the waters

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In 2015, an infamously scofflaw fleet of more than 70 bottom trawlers from Thailand fished in the Saya De Malha Bank. These trawlers dragged their nets over the ocean floor, scooping up brushtooth lizardfish, round scad, sharks, tuna, and other tuna-like species. Their catch would be turned into protein-rich fishmeal that gets fed to chickens, pigs, and aquaculture fish.

The illegal or unregulated behavior of this fleet has since been well-documented. At least 30 of them had arrived in the bank after fleeing crackdowns on fishing violations in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, according to a report from Greenpeace. At least 24 of them that fished in the Saya de Malha Bank had committed fishing violations, mostly from a lack of valid fishing gear licenses, according to a 2016 Thai government report. The Thai government was not yet a member of the Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement. So, none of the vessels were approved to fish in the bank by the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission — two of the main international oversight bodies meant to protect this area of water. Thailand’s director-general of the Department of Fisheries later confirmed the vessels were “operating in an area free of regulatory control.”

The impact of the Thai fishmeal fleet was “catastrophic” to the Saya de Malha Bank, according to researchers from Monaco Explorations, who visited the area in 2022 in an expedition partly sponsored by the governments of Seychelles and Mauritius. “It seems remarkable that the Thai government permitted its fishing fleet to commence trawl fishing,” the organization said in their final report. “Even a cursory glance” at the existing literature should have dissuaded any trawling, the researchers added. Citing a 2008 study that said trawling could “irreversibly destroy seagrass and coral biotopes and cause depletion of particular species,” the study also questioned whether the Thai government’s decision to approve trawling was a “case of complete negligence” or a “deliberate policy to trawl the bank prior to joining Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement.” It is “astonishing” that trawling was still taking place, the researchers concluded.

The Thai fishmeal trawlers have continued to return annually to the Saya de Malha Bank but typically with fewer vessels than in 2015. At least four Thai trawler vessels have fished each year in the bank. In 2023, only two trawlers, the Maneengern 5 and Chokephoemsin 1, were still authorized by the Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement.

OUT AT SEA. As of 2023, only two trawlers, the Maneengern 5 and Chokephoemsin 1, remain authorized by the Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement. Courtesy of SIOFA | APSOI

More recently, the bigger fishing presence in the Saya de Malha Bank consists of Taiwanese tuna longliners and Sri Lankan gillnetters. Longliners are vessels that deploy fishing lines, sometimes stretching 40 miles, that are baited at regular intervals. Gillnetters hang wide panels of netting in the water, keeping them attached to the surface via floating lines.

Over 230 vessels fished in the vicinity of the Saya de Malha Bank between January 2021 and January 2024. Most of these ships (over 100) were from Sri Lanka and were gillnetters, according to data from Global Fishing Watch. The second largest group were from Taiwan (over 70). At least 13 of these ships from Taiwan and four from Sri Lanka have been reprimanded by their national authorities for illegal or unregulated fishing, with transgressions including the illegal transport of shark fins or shark carcasses with their fins removed, the falsification of catch reports, and illegal fishing in the waters of countries including Mauritius and Seychelles.

The presence of these ships poses a dire threat to biodiversity in the bank, according to ocean scientists. Jessica Gephart, a fisheries science professor at the University of Washington, explained that the Saya de Malha Bank is a breeding ground for humpback and blue whales which can be injured or killed by ship collisions. The worry is that fishing vessels may not just cut down the seagrass, warned James Fourqurean, a biology professor at Florida International University. These ships also risk causing turbidity, making the water opaque by stirring up the seafloor, and thereby harming the balance of species and food pyramid.

Aren’t there laws or treaties that protect the Saya de Malha Bank? Not really. International institutions known as regional fisheries management organizations are supposed to regulate fishing activities in areas of the high seas like the Saya de Malha Bank. They are responsible for establishing binding measures for the conservation and sustainable management of highly migratory fish species. Their roles and jurisdictions vary, but most can impose management measures such as catch limits. These organizations are often criticized by ocean conservationists, however, because their rules only apply to signatory countries and are crafted by consensus, which opens the process to industry influence and political pressure, according to a 2024 Greenpeace report.

The Saya de Malha, as an archetypal example of these limitations, is governed by the Southern Indian Oceans Fisheries Agreement. Sri Lanka, the home of the bank’s largest fleet, is not a signatory. – Rappler.com

Reporting and writing was contributed additionally by Outlaw Ocean Project staff, including Maya Martin, Joe Galvin, Susan Ryan, Ben Blankenship, and Austin Brush.

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