Gallery: Inside China’s Almost-Totally-Legal $400M Fishery in Africa

  • Image may contain Human Person Building Bridge Suspension Bridge Transportation Vehicle Boat and Adventure
    Yuyang Liu
    01

    Chinese-Fishing-West-Africa-at-Sea-Yuyang-6.jpg

    This Chinese ship fishes with side trawlers. Nets hang from struts extending from each side of the ship, dragging behind and catching anything and everything in its path.
  • Image may contain Human Person Clothing Hat Apparel Building Helmet Urban and Crowd
    Yuyang Liu
    02

    West-Africa-Fishing-Yuyang-11.jpg

    On the local fishing boat, sailors pull in their nets.
  • Image may contain Human Person Animal Bird Adventure Leisure Activities and Water
    Yuyang Liu
    03

    West-Africa-Fishing-Yuyang-18.jpg

    A fisherman on a local boat tosses lunch to another worker. Food consists of roasted fish and baguettes.
  • Image may contain Human Person and Military
    Yuyang Liu
    04

    Chinese-Fishing-West-Africa-at-Sea-Yuyang-2.jpg

    A Chinese ship scouts places to drop their nets.
  • Image may contain Human Person Animal Reptile Snake Clothing and Apparel
    Yuyang Liu
    05

    Chinese-Fishing-West-Africa-at-Sea-Yuyang-9.jpg

    After sailors draw in the nets, they sort and clean the fish. Here a sailor cuts the fins of a guitarfish, the only part of the fish that sells.
  • Image may contain Human Person Clothing Apparel Water and Outdoors
    Yuyang Liu
    06

    Chinese-Fishing-West-Africa-at-Sea-Yuyang-7.jpg

    A Chinese trawler ship heads back to Dakar after being at sea for a month.
  • Image may contain Animal Sea Life Fish Herring Coho Sardine Human Person and Water
    Yuyang Liu
    07

    West-Africa-Fishing-Yuyang-16.jpg

    Local fishermen cast their nets three to four times over a 12-hour day. They work in two boats, fishing from one and storing the catch in the other.
  • Image may contain Human Person Light Flare and Pub
    Yuyang Liu
    08

    Chinese-Fishing-West-Africa-at-Sea-Yuyang-3.jpg

    The captain of a Chinese industrial ship talks over a radio with a nearby vessel.
  • Image may contain Light Flare Nature Outdoors Human Person Adventure Leisure Activities Vessel and Transportation
    Yuyang Liu
    09

    West-Africa-Fishing-Yuyang-1.jpg

    A local ship returns to Joal Fadiout, Senegal’s biggest fishing port, after a 12-hour day.
  • Image may contain Human Person Silhouette and Art
    Yuyang Liu
    10

    West-Africa-Fishing-Yuyang-2.jpg

    Local fishermen carry freshly caught fish to land to sell.
  • Image may contain Human Person Clothing Apparel Pants Water Boat Transportation Vehicle Shoe and Footwear
    Yuyang Liu
    11

    Chinese-in-West-Africa-Yuyang-8.jpg

    Workers waiting to transport fish from local boats to trucks.
  • Image may contain Soil Nature Outdoors Sand Ground Dune and Desert
    Yuyang Liu
    12

    Chinese-in-West-Africa-Yuyang-19.jpg

    A Chinese cemetery in Nouadhibou, Mauritania, established in the 1990s for workers who die far from their homeland.
  • Image may contain Human Person Urban City Town Building Metropolis Road and Street
    Yuyang Liu
    13

    West-Africa-Fishing-Yuyang-4.jpg

    At 1 am, a local captain finally eats his dinner. In five hours, he’ll rise for another long day of fishing.
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