On December 9, 2023, Yohanne Abayateye found a dismembered body on Ada’s beach, presumed to be his brother Samuel, a fisheries observer who disappeared six weeks earlier while aboard a tuna fishing boat. Despite his family’s efforts to obtain DNA results and answers from authorities, they faced ongoing neglect and hardship. This incident, alongside another observer’s 2019 disappearance, highlights alarming trends concerning the safety of fisheries observers in Ghana amid reported illegal fishing practices and rising environmental and human rights abuses in the industry.
On December 9, 2023, Yohanne Abayateye and a companion stumbled upon a gruesome scene at the Anyamam lagoon in Ghana, close to their hometown of Ada. That morning, they found a dismembered body washed ashore. The community believed it to be Samuel, Yohanne’s brother, who went missing at sea six weeks prior. “He wore the same T-shirt and had a distinctive mark on his body,” detailed Dyhia Belhabib, an investigator for the Canadian NGO Ecotrust, promoting sustainable development in the global south.
Samuel Abayateye, 38, served as a civil servant and worked as an observer on a tuna fishing vessel for the Ghanaian fisheries committee. His responsibilities included monitoring the fish caught and discarded at sea. The boat he was assigned to, the Marine 707, is operated by the World Marine Company, a Ghana-registered firm owned by Asian interests. On October 30, 2023, Samuel inexplicably disappeared while on duty, prompting the crew to report the incident to authorities in Téma, located on Ghana’s southern coast.
The police report, accessed by Radio France’s investigative team, notes that the sailors discovered Samuel missing only after waking up, despite having seen him asleep the previous day. World Marine Company officials cast doubt on the identity of the body discovered weeks later, stating they didn’t believe it to be that of their employee.
The family of the missing observer submitted a DNA sample for comparison, yet by October 2024, results were still pending. “We are very poor. We frequently visit the police for updates and need to hire a lawyer. We can’t afford this,” explained Eugène Emmanuel, a relative of Samuel. Nearly a year after his disappearance, neither the family nor authorities have provided them with the body or concrete information. Remarkably, the crew of the boat has since resumed fishing in the tuna market.
A Call for Justice
“I urge you to investigate!” This plea echoes not only for Samuel but also recalls many unresolved cases, including that of Emmanuel Essein, another observer who disappeared in troubling circumstances while working on a Ghana-flagged trawler affiliated with Chinese interests in 2019. “Emmanuel’s integrity was unquestionable; he reported any anomalies he observed, a dangerous practice aboard vessels such as the Chinese-owned Meng Xin 15,” stated Dyhia Belhabib from Ecotrust. Emmanuel had noted illegal transshipments at sea, where licensed boats covertly sold fish to unlicensed vessels, a practice that permits overfishing.
Before his disappearance, Emmanuel wrote, “I implore you to investigate this,” in his report, a sentiment that regrettably has gone unanswered. Despite crew claims of conducting searches aboard the vessel after his vanishing, the case was ultimately closed by local prosecutors, allowing the Meng Xin 15 to continue fishing activities without consequence.
Reports highlight ongoing issues including illegal fishing practices and the inhumane treatment of crew members often subjected to forced labor. “Environmental crimes are frequently intertwined with human rights violations, violence, intimidation, and corruption,” remarked Julien Daudu, spokesperson for the Environmental Justice Foundation, which has documented various abuses faced by crew members aboard these vessels.
Vulnerable Observers
The Professional Observers Association, based in Canada, maintains a record of the alarming instances of disappearances or troubling deaths involving observers at sea. “Families of these observers deserve information about their loved ones’ fates,” asserted Elizabeth Mitchell, a spokesperson for the association. Tragically, reports indicate at least fifteen observers have vanished or died under suspicious circumstances in the last decade. In one incident in 2018, a missing observer’s family was told he had fallen overboard while working for an Ecuadorian fishing company.
Observers play an essential role in the ecosystem, having initially been introduced in the 1980s to estimate catches and establish quotas. “We’re not law enforcement officers, but we gather data crucial for monitoring fish populations,” articulated Maxime Simon, a former observer. This data contributes to the databases of coastal countries and informs fishing policies.
Lack of Acceptance
Despite their importance, observers often find themselves unwelcome on board fishing vessels. “We’ve observed that fishermen’s behavior alters significantly when they know an observer is present,” noted