By: Isatou Sarr
The Gambia’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and former International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has called for immediate and coordinated action to protect the oceans from lawlessness, highlighting that the battle for control of the world’s oceans has reached a critical tipping point, as criminal networks exploit weak enforcement to plunder marine resources and destabilize coastal economies.
“Our oceans are under siege,” the legal luminary sounded the alarm bell. “If we fail to act now, we risk losing not only billions in economic resources but also the stability of nations and the livelihoods of millions who depend on the sea,” she presaged.
With an estimated $2 billion lost annually to illegal fishing in West Africa alone, the High Commissioner pointed to the alarming consequences of maritime crime, which fuels food insecurity, economic hardship and even mass migration.
According to Excellency Bensouda, seven million people in the West Africa sub-region rely directly on fishing for survival, and industrial trawlers, operating outside the law, are wiping fish stocks and robbing entire communities of their future.
She called for urgent measures to combat the crisis by strengthening legal frameworks, enhancing regional cooperation and leveraging cutting-edge technology such as satellite tracking and AI-driven threat detection.
“Having laws on paper is meaningless without enforcement. We must invest in maritime security, deploy real-time monitoring systems, and hold offenders accountable. The oceans do not belong to criminals, they belong to us all,” she stressed.
