Learn how to conduct an interactive investigation on environmental crimes. Recommended for journalism educators interested in fact-checking and verification practices. Based on the Pirate Fishing interactive investigation by Juliana Ruhfus at http://www.aljazeera.com/piratefishing

1. TEACHER’S KIT
Learn
how
to
conduct
an
investigative
report
on
environmental
crimes
30 sec promo on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEXbsfa26u4
Link to game: www.aljazeera.com/piratefishing
(Best use on desktop)

2. WHY
AN
INVESTIGATIVE
JOURNALISM
GAME?
● Digital teaching techniques allow an immersive experience for students, learning in a way that
cannot be achieved in traditional studies, and adding fun to the classroom. The topic chosen for
this game is a report by journalist Juliana Ruhfus “Pirate Fishing”, for the Al Jazeera series
People & Power, nominated for the Royal Television Society Awards.
● Being an investigative journalist or activist can be seen as quite a high-brow career. However,
gamification can open these career choices to a new generation of digital-savvy budding
journalists and environmental investigators.
● Journalism has changed in the digital age, and it is important to understand this through using
the digital medium itself
● This tool allows a student to connect to global issues in a way they have not before.
Environmental crime in Sierra Leone may at first seem remote, but the impact of world food
sourcing is an issue that affects everyone including consumers of illegal fish in developed
countries.

3. BACKGROUND
ON
ILLEGAL
FISHING
The precious marine resources of some of the world's poorest people are being targeted by industrial-scale
pirate fishing operations, to feed the seafood hungry markets of Europe and Asia. The problem is
particularly acute in West African waters where fish is a vital - and often the only - protein source for
millions of people.
The importance of fishing for coastal communities
Fishing generates livelihoods for over 100 million people and represents a vital source of nutrition as they
provide 16.6 percent of the world population’s intake of animal protein. More than 90 percent of people
employed in the fisheries sector are small-scale fishers and fish farmers in the developing world. The vast
majority of these are in Africa and Asia where poverty among coastal and rural communities is often
particularly high. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations estimates that
around 5.8 million fishers live in poverty, earning less than $1 per day.[1]
What is pirate fishing?
Generally, one can say that Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) or “pirate fishing” occurs when
vessels operate in violation of the law[2]. This could be for example when they are:
i. Fishing without license
ii. Fishing in prohibited areas
iii. Targeting protected species
iv. Using forbidden fishing gears
The problem with pirate fishing
Global losses due to pirate fishing are estimated to be between US$10 billion and US$23.5 billion per
year, globally. West African waters are estimated to have the highest levels of IUU fishing in the world as
a proportion of the region’s total catch, with the illegal catch in the wider Eastern Central Atlantic
estimated to be worth between US$828 million and US$1.6 billion per year, or 37 percent of seafood
catches.[3] In a survey conducted by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) in Liberia, West Africa,
all fishermen communities interviewed reported the presence of industrial trawlers in the Inshore
Exclusion Zone (IEZ) as one of the major issues they are facing.
Pirate fishing vessels also compromise the health of fish stocks and the marine environment. Ninety
percent of vessels documented by EJF in West Africa are bottom trawlers, which drag heavy trawl
equipment along the seabed, resulting in damage to the bottom habitat and high levels of by-catch,
including vulnerable marine life such as sharks and turtles. By fishing in inshore areas reserved for local
fishers, they displace artisanal fishers into riverine areas where fish breed, resulting in further damage to
the marine environment and the depletion of fish stocks.
What can be done against pirate fishing?

4. Since 2009, the UK-based NGO Environmental Justice Foundation has worked with fishing communities
in the Sherbro River area of Sierra Leone to document pirate fishing by foreign industrial vessels. In
Sierra Leone, EJF’s community surveillance boat responds to calls from fishers and other community
members who witness pirate fishing. EJF’s staff in Sierra Leone and Liberia take photos, video and GPS
coordinates of offending vessels and submit evidence to the relevant authorities to ensure that the
vessels are sanctioned and their catch is not exported to the world’s valuable seafood markets. The
information is also complemented and verified through the use of the satellite monitoring system AIS
(Automatic Identification System).
See EJF’s campaigning goals here to know more about what states and fishing industries can do against
illegal fishing. See here what you can personally do to help ending pirate fishing.
[1] Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the
Context of National Food Security, FAO, 2012.
[2] Pirate Fishing Exposed: The Fight Against Illegal Fishing in West Africa and the EU, EJF 2012.
[3] Agnew DJ, Pearce J, Pramod G, Peatman T, Watson R, et al., “Estimating the Worldwide Extent of
Illegal Fishing” (Marine Resources Action Group and University of British Columbia, 2009).

5. HOW
TO
USE
THE
PIRATE
FISHING
GAME
The ‘Pirate Fishing’ interactive investigation is accessible by desk top on this link:
www.aljazeera.com/piratefishing/
● The student becomes the junior journalist and must gather evidence on pirate fishing in Sierra
Leone.
● During the clips the evidence and information gathered by the team is highlighted. At the end of
each clip it is presented on screen and the student will have to file it into the right section of his or
her notebook to score points and advance his or her status to senior reporter. To differentiate
between facts, background notes and criminal evidence are important to building a report that has
integrity and is accepted by local and international authorities.
● By clicking on the map icon with the map students can watch extra clips that provide further
context to the investigation. By watching them students can earn further “specialist badges” and
share them via social media such as their Facebook page or twitter.
● Further instructions are provided through interactive screen displays during the digital project
For a short intro clip watch here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEXbsfa26u4

6. ADDITIONAL
MATERIAL
● Watch the original documentary: In a special two-part investigation in February 2012, People &
Power identified and expose some of those involved in the multi-million dollar trade and to look in
particular at its consequences for the impoverished West African nation of Sierra Leone.
o Website: http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/peopleandpower/2012/01/201212554311540797.html
o Youtube links:
Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKQ0rf06Jw4
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcXCvY6hnEE
● Further research assignments: Teachers may wish to assign students with further research on
illegal fishing or other environmental crimes of their choice.
● Additional Music Video: Al Jazeera commissioned WayOut Arts in Sierra Leone to produce a
music video to build awareness about illegal fishing. Chanting Bee and KMill's song features at
the end of the web application, and is viewable hereThe song features at the end of the web
application, and is viewable here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1YRakZZZaI
o Teachers may wish to assign students a project to create their own awareness campaign
for an environmental issue of their choice, through music, social media (hashtag
campaigns, videos) or other communications channels

7. CREDITS
AND
CONTACTS
Are you using the interactive investigation in your classroom?
This is a first-time project and I would be really grateful for any comments, feedback and
ideas exchanges. Please contact me via http://www.julianaruhfus.com/ or on twitter
@julianaruhfus
Al Jazeera Media Network
Reporter: Juliana Ruhfus
Web Producer: Elizabeth Gorman
Inquiries to pressoffice@aljazeera.net
AItera Studios, Rome, Italy
Creative Direction: Ivan Giordino
http://www.alterastudio.it/
Grain Media, London
Director/ Camera: Orlando von Einsiedel
http://grainmedia.co.uk/
Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF)
www.ejfoundation.org
WAYout musicians
Kmill and Chanting Bee website www.wayoutarts.org