Colonial legacies and corporate greed fuel African illegal fishing—satellite tech alone won’t dismantle systemic exploitation
Original framing: “Illegal fishing is thriving in African waters – a satellite system could help change that” — The Conversation - Global
The current crisis traces back to the **Berlin Conference (1884–85)**, where European powers carved up African coastlines without regard for traditional fishing grounds, and later to **structural adjustment programs (1980s–90s)**, which forced African nations to privatize fisheries and remove subsidies for small-scale fishers. The **1995 UN Fish Stocks Agreement** further institutionalized unequal access, allowing distant-water fishing nations (e.g., China, Spain) to exploit African waters under 'development aid' guise. These historical patterns explain why satellite surveillance alone cannot address the root cause: **legalized plunder** under neoliberal trade regimes.
The illegal fishing crisis in Africa is not a failure of monitoring but a **deliberate outcome of colonialism’s unfinished business**: the extraction of resources under the guise of 'development.
' While satellites can track boats, they cannot dismantle the **legal architecture of plunder**—from the **1982 UNCLOS** to the **EU’s 'partnership agreements'**—that treats African waters as corporate commons. The trickster here is **neoliberal conservation**, where Western tech and NGOs offer band-aids (drones, apps) while the real bleeding—**sovereignty, food security, and ecological collapse**—goes untreated. Solutions must start with **indigenous co-management** (restoring the Sango’s rotational fishing zones) and **economic warfare** (sanctioning fleets that violate the Right to Food), not just better cameras. The future of African fisheries lies in **reclaiming the commons**—not through surveillance, but through **collective resistance** that turns the tables on the historical exploiters.