The high seas are a lawless frontier where crimes such as murder, slavery and environmental destruction are often met with impunity and overlooked by the media. But the ocean is also a place of discovery and reinvention, offering freedom from the constraints of society.

A new 10-part short film series produced by The Outlaw Ocean Project stems from over a decade of reporting by our columnist Ian Urbina exploring crime on the high seas. The series chronicles a gritty cast of characters including traffickers and smugglers, pirates and mercenaries, shackled slaves and vigilante conservationists.

Over the next ten weeks, we will exclusively share all episodes of ‘Dispatches from the Outlaw Ocean’ as they come out.

Episode 6 – ‘The fish we turn to dust’ – came out out on Monday, 22nd May. In this episode, Ian Urbina investigates the impact of fishmeal factories and foreign trawlers in West Africa.

Gambia, like many of its West African neighbors, has embraced the lucrative production of fishmeal. But the booming aquaculture industry, widely hailed by conservationists as the best hope for slowing ocean depletion, is polluting waters, decimating fish stocks, and threatening the lives of millions worldwide. 

In the latest episode Ian Urbina exposes how a fifth of all marine life pulled from the sea ends up ground up to feed farmed fish and why solutions meant to combat ocean depletion could be accelerating the problem.

Watch Episode 6 here or on The Outlaw Ocean’s website: