Illegal overfishing by Chinese trawlers leaves Sierra Leone locals ‘starving’

Along Tombo’s crumbling waterfront, dozens of hand-painted wooden boats are arriving in the blistering midday sun with the day’s catch for the scrum of the market in one of Sierra Leone’s largest fishing ports. In a scrap of shade at the bustling dock, Joseph Fofana, a 36-year-old fisherman, is repairing a torn net. Fofana says he earns about 50,000 leone (£3.30) for a brutal, 14-hour day at sea, crammed in with 20 men, all paying the owner for use of his vessel. “This is the only job we can do,”…

Smuggling Australian rock lobsters into China a national security threat, Hong Kong customs chief says

Rampant smuggling of Australian rock lobsters into mainland China is a national security threat, Hong Kong’s new customs chief said Thursday as she vowed to crack down on the trade. Lobsters are one of a number of products from Australia that China has restricted imports of as relations between the countries plunged. But they remain a prized and much sought-after delicacy in mainland China. Imports of Australian rock lobsters to Hong Kong – which maintains no restrictions on the crustaceans – have since sky-rocketed, with suspicions that the vast majority…