Corruption endangers world’s shrinking fisheries

By FU TING, GRACE EKPU and HELEN WIEFFERING
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Corruption is undermining the management of some of the world’s most threatened fishing grounds. That’s according to a review of criminal case files and media reports by The Associated Press. At least 45 government officials have been accused of graft or extortion in the past two decades. The allegations range from high-ranking officials accepting large payments from fishing companies to obtain lucrative contracts to low-level civil servants accepting a few thousand dollars to ignore fishermen bringing illegal catch ashore. The situation is most critical in areas managed by developing nations because many industrialized countries have already overfished their own waters, forcing their fleets to go farther.