---
title: "Video Dispatches from The Outlaw Ocean (Episode 6)"
description: "The fish we turn to dust: Gambia, like many of its west African neighbours, 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."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "THE OUTLAW OCEAN PROJECT"
author: "Ian Urbina"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/ian-urbina/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-05-24-video-dispatches-from-the-outlaw-ocean-episode-6/"
published: "2023-05-24T19:39:05"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 108
---

# Video Dispatches from The Outlaw Ocean (Episode 6)

> The fish we turn to dust: Gambia, like many of its west African neighbours, 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.

By Ian Urbina · Published 24 May 2023, 21:39 SAST

## Key points
- In this episode, Ian Urbina dives deep to uncover the murky reality of the fishmeal industry - a story that's as fishy as it is shocking.
- Ian Urbina investigates the impact of fishmeal factories and foreign trawlers in west Africa.
- A fifth of all marine life is ground up to feed farmed fish.
- Solutions meant to combat ocean depletion could be accelerating the problem.
- Urbina uncovers the devastating effects of overfishing in West Africa.

## Content

[YouTube video: "YouTube video"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBzjIvu5Bs0)

In this episode Ian Urbina investigates the impact of fishmeal factories and foreign trawlers in west Africa, exposing how a fifth of all marine life pulled from the sea ends up being ground up to feed farmed fish and why solutions meant to combat ocean depletion could be accelerating the problem. **DM**

**Watch the previous instalments:**

[**Video Dispatches from The Outlaw Ocean (Episode 1)**](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-04-17-video-dispatches-from-the-outlaw-ocean-episode-1/)

[**Video Dispatches from The Outlaw Ocean (Episode 2)**](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-04-26-video-dispatches-from-the-outlaw-ocean-episode-2/)

**[Video Dispatches from The Outlaw Ocean (Episode 3)](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-05-02-video-dispatches-from-the-outlaw-ocean-episode-3/)**

**[Video Dispatches from The Outlaw Ocean (Episode 4)](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-05-09-video-dispatches-from-the-outlaw-ocean-episode-4/)**

**[Video Dispatches from The Outlaw Ocean (Episode 5)](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-05-16-video-dispatches-from-the-outlaw-ocean-episode-5/)**

*For tickets to Daily Maverick’s The Gathering: Earth Edition, click [here](https://www.quicket.co.za/events/200475-the-gathering-e-edition-energy-esg-earth-economics-ecosystem/#/).*

[YouTube video: "YouTube video"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REeWvTRUpMk)