"Off-shore industrial boats illegally harvest thousands of tonnes of small fish vital to the marine food web in Guinea-Bissau, a DeSmog investigation with The Guardian reveals."

"The only ice factory in Bubaque is out of service. Local fishermen, like Pedro Luis Pereira, are forced to source ice from factories on the mainland in Guinea-Bissau, West Africa, some 70 kilometres away – a six-hour round trip by boat. 

“The machines have been broken for months,” Pereira explains, as he pulls in his nets on the shore of the island inside the protected Bijagós Archipelago. “We’ve alerted the Ministry of Fisheries, but so far, no one has come to fix them.” 

Wooden canoes are the only fishing boats allowed among the cluster of 88 islands that make up the Bijagós archipelago. Its shallow waters are a rich breeding ground for silver flat sardinella, which Pereira, racing the tropical heat, sells fresh for 250 CFA francs (£0.33) a kilo at the market in Bissau, the capital of this tiny west African republic.

The tides dictate when fishermen can navigate the shallow waters of the archipelago. Its sandbars are a nursery for countless species, including endangered turtles and manatees, leading marine biologists to describe it as “the Galapagos of West Africa”."

Davide Mancini reports for DeSmog and the Guardian March 8, 2026. [2]