Marine ecologists and conservationists believe that the biggest single threat to marine ecosystems today is overfishing. Our appetite for fish is exceeding the oceans’ ecological limits with devastating impacts on marine ecosystems. Scientists are warning that overfishing results in profound changes in our oceans, perhaps changing them forever. Whilst thousands of boats legally empty the seas of fish thousands more illegally do the same. It is a problem that is a global issue but one that is exceedingly hard to remedy.
But not only is sea life that is at risk but also communities that have relied on fishing for centuries. These communities often fish in a sustainable way but are unable to compete and survive against larger and more technologically advanced boats that extract fish at a shocking rate. Not only is it an ecological issue but also one that is leading to the vanishing of traditions and livelihoods. Will humans be able to change their eating habits before it is too late to allow the oceans to regenerate?
Over the years I have photographed both sides of this coin, the trawlers hauling tonnes at a time and the communities that survive from them. This portfolio is a collection of those images taken in Africa and Asia.
1 / 30
The Gulf of Thailand at dawn seen from a fishing trawler as it returns to shore.
Rayong, Thailand
2 / 30
Cambodian fishermen empty a large trawler net that has been dragged all night catching everything in its path. A 3 kilometer nursery zone exists around the whole coastal region of Thailand, but this is often ignored as punishments are lenient and as a result the catches have more than halved in recent years.
Chonburi, Thailand
3 / 30
Thai fishing trawler boats leave for the ocean in the late afternoon and will return the following morning.
Phuket Island, Thailand
4 / 30
Thai workers pull tuna into nets in the hold, where the temperature is minus 22 degrees Celsius. The large ship is docked just outside Bangkok and will spend one week unloading hundres of tonnes of tuna. Each frozen skipjack carcass weighs about 40 kilograms (88 pounds); one ton of skipjack fetches about $1,600 on the wholesale market.
Samut Prakan, Thailand
5 / 30
Middle men, vendors and buyers all congregate at Gambia's largest fish market of Tanji every morning and afternoon after small African pirogues bring fish back to shore from the Atlantic.
Tanji, The Gambia
6 / 30
Burmese fishermen set off for a night on a Thai fishing trawler. Thailand is the third largest exporter of fish in the world after China and the US. Its fishing fleet is vast, but years of unregulated trawling has causes incredible damage to fish stocks.
Phuket Island, Thailand
7 / 30
The fishing community of a remote Indonesian Island perform the ceremony of 'Misa Arwah' on the beach. It is held once a year to commemorate those who died fishing and local fishing families light candles and place them all over the beach. It is small traditional fishing communities such as this that are effected by over-fishing due to large trawlers.
Lembata Island, Indonesia
8 / 30
Tonnes of fish are unloaded from boats, sold, packaged then reloaded on to trucks for distribution everyday at Yangon's largest fish market on the outskirts of the city.
Yangon, Myanmar
9 / 30
Men carrying fish in basin's on their heads bring todays catch to the beach at Tanji's fish market. Every morning and afternoon African pirogues bring fish back to shore from the Atlantic. The fish are then immediately bought by customers and middle-men creating chaotic scenes involving hundreds of people. But trawling by large foreign vessels of The Gamboia's coast has lead to a reduced catch for these local fishermen.
Tanji, The Gambia
10 / 30
Cambodian fishermen sort out the catch as the trawler boat races to shore after a night of dragging the net. He holds one of the few fish caught, the majority of the catch were very small fish.
A 3 kilometer nursery zone exists around the whole coastal region of Thailand, but this is often ignored as punishments are lenient and as a result the catches have more than halved in recent years.
Chonburi, Thailand
11 / 30
A husband and wife team selling recently caught fish rest above todays catch at Yangon's largest fish market on the outskirts of the city.
Yangon, Myanmar
12 / 30
Men pulling carts ladden with ice, carrying boxes of fish and shouting out prices all leads to chaotic scenes at Yangon's largest fish market on the outskirts of the city.
Yangon, Myanmar
13 / 30
Burmese fishermen working all night on a Thai fishing trawler boat off the coast of Phuket pull in the net.
Gulf of Thailand
14 / 30
A catch of large sail fish is being unloaded from a Thai fishing trawler by Burmese fishermen at Phuket's main fishing port.
Phuket, Thailand
15 / 30
A local man hangs fish on long racks to dry them in the sun. This area on India's west coast is famous for its dried fish.
Dahanu, India
16 / 30
Fish are unloaded from large Thai fishing trawlers and sorted ready to be sold at Phukets main harbour.
Phuket, Thailand
17 / 30
A Cambodian fishermen sorts the net, clinging on to the side of this Thai trawler boat as it ploughs through the darkness. Thailand is the third largest exporter of fish in the world after China and the US. Its fishing fleet is vast, but years of unregulated trawling has causes incredible damage to fish stocks.
Chonburi, Thailand
18 / 30
A large fishing trawler unloads is catch caught the night before. This ammount of fish comes from just one boat and with tens of thousands of boats the Gulf of Thailand's fish stocks have been seriously depleted.
Silapacha, Thailand
19 / 30
Behind Gambia's largest fish market at Tanji is a collection of fish smoking buildings. For centuries fish have been smoked here and either sold domestically or exported to other parts of North Africa, particularly Nigeria. Caught in the Atlantic, the fish are smoked for days after which they can be kept without refrigeration for months.
Tanji, The Gambia
20 / 30
Not only fish are caught by net dragging trawlers but also shells. This man came to purchase the shells caught up in the nets of a Thai trawler to sell as souvenirs to tourists,
Phuket, Thailand
21 / 30
On the beach at Tanji is Gambia's largest fish market. Every morning and afternoon African pirogues bring fish back to shore from the Atlantic. The fish are then immediately bought by customers and middle-men creating chaotic scenes involving hundreds of people.
Tanji, The Gambia
22 / 30
An Indian women prepares shrimp to dry in the sun in a remote fishing community of India's west coast.
Dahanu, India
23 / 30
A Burmese fisherman takes a quick nap before starting work on a fishing net as the boat leaves for the open ocean.
Gulf of Thailand, Thailand
24 / 30
The portrait of a Cambodian fisherman on a night trawler.
Chonburi, Thailand
25 / 30
Burmese fishermen working all night on a Thai trawler boat off the coast of Phuket. Thailand is the third largest exporter of fish in the world after China and the US. Its fishing fleet is vast, but years of unregulated trawling has causes incredible damage to fish stocks.
A 3 kilometer nursery zone exists around the whole coastal region, but this is often ignored as punishments are lenient. Most fishing is done at night when trawlers, varying in size, leave for the darkness of the sea returning in the morning with their catch that in many cases has more than halved in recent years.
Gulf of Thailand
26 / 30
Behind Gambia's largest fish market at Tanji is a collection of fish smoking buildings. For centuries fish have been smoked here and either sold domestically or exported to other parts of North Africa, particularly Nigeria. Caught in the Atlantic, the fish are smoked for days after which they can be kept without refrigeration for months.
Tanji, The Gambia
27 / 30
Thai workers pull tuna into nets in the hold, where the temperature is minus 22 degrees Celsius. The large ship is docked just outside Bangkok and will spend one week unloading hundres of tonnes of tuna. Each frozen skipjack carcass weighs about 40 kilograms (88 pounds); one ton of skipjack fetches about $1,600 on the wholesale market.
Samut Prakan, Thailand
28 / 30
Cambodian fishermen sleep as the trawler boat returns to the shore at dawn after a night out at sea.
Ang Sila, Thailand
29 / 30
A Cambodian fisherman stands on the side of his boat as it returns to harbour after a night in the open ocean.
Chonburi, Thailand
30 / 30
In the Gulf of Thailand a Thai fishing trawler uses lights to attract a certain type of fish to the surface before dropping the net.
Phuket Island, Thailand
The Gulf of Thailand at dawn seen from a fishing trawler as it returns to shore.
Rayong, Thailand
Cambodian fishermen empty a large trawler net that has been dragged all night catching everything in its path. A 3 kilometer nursery zone exists around the whole coastal region of Thailand, but this is often ignored as punishments are lenient and as a result the catches have more than halved in recent years.
Chonburi, Thailand
Thai fishing trawler boats leave for the ocean in the late afternoon and will return the following morning.
Phuket Island, Thailand
Thai workers pull tuna into nets in the hold, where the temperature is minus 22 degrees Celsius. The large ship is docked just outside Bangkok and will spend one week unloading hundres of tonnes of tuna. Each frozen skipjack carcass weighs about 40 kilograms (88 pounds); one ton of skipjack fetches about $1,600 on the wholesale market.
Samut Prakan, Thailand
Middle men, vendors and buyers all congregate at Gambia's largest fish market of Tanji every morning and afternoon after small African pirogues bring fish back to shore from the Atlantic.
Tanji, The Gambia
Burmese fishermen set off for a night on a Thai fishing trawler. Thailand is the third largest exporter of fish in the world after China and the US. Its fishing fleet is vast, but years of unregulated trawling has causes incredible damage to fish stocks.
Phuket Island, Thailand
The fishing community of a remote Indonesian Island perform the ceremony of 'Misa Arwah' on the beach. It is held once a year to commemorate those who died fishing and local fishing families light candles and place them all over the beach. It is small traditional fishing communities such as this that are effected by over-fishing due to large trawlers.
Lembata Island, Indonesia
Tonnes of fish are unloaded from boats, sold, packaged then reloaded on to trucks for distribution everyday at Yangon's largest fish market on the outskirts of the city.
Yangon, Myanmar
Men carrying fish in basin's on their heads bring todays catch to the beach at Tanji's fish market. Every morning and afternoon African pirogues bring fish back to shore from the Atlantic. The fish are then immediately bought by customers and middle-men creating chaotic scenes involving hundreds of people. But trawling by large foreign vessels of The Gamboia's coast has lead to a reduced catch for these local fishermen.
Tanji, The Gambia
Cambodian fishermen sort out the catch as the trawler boat races to shore after a night of dragging the net. He holds one of the few fish caught, the majority of the catch were very small fish.
A 3 kilometer nursery zone exists around the whole coastal region of Thailand, but this is often ignored as punishments are lenient and as a result the catches have more than halved in recent years.
Chonburi, Thailand
A husband and wife team selling recently caught fish rest above todays catch at Yangon's largest fish market on the outskirts of the city.
Yangon, Myanmar
Men pulling carts ladden with ice, carrying boxes of fish and shouting out prices all leads to chaotic scenes at Yangon's largest fish market on the outskirts of the city.
Yangon, Myanmar
Burmese fishermen working all night on a Thai fishing trawler boat off the coast of Phuket pull in the net.
Gulf of Thailand
A catch of large sail fish is being unloaded from a Thai fishing trawler by Burmese fishermen at Phuket's main fishing port.
Phuket, Thailand
A local man hangs fish on long racks to dry them in the sun. This area on India's west coast is famous for its dried fish.
Dahanu, India
Fish are unloaded from large Thai fishing trawlers and sorted ready to be sold at Phukets main harbour.
Phuket, Thailand
A Cambodian fishermen sorts the net, clinging on to the side of this Thai trawler boat as it ploughs through the darkness. Thailand is the third largest exporter of fish in the world after China and the US. Its fishing fleet is vast, but years of unregulated trawling has causes incredible damage to fish stocks.
Chonburi, Thailand
A large fishing trawler unloads is catch caught the night before. This ammount of fish comes from just one boat and with tens of thousands of boats the Gulf of Thailand's fish stocks have been seriously depleted.
Silapacha, Thailand
Behind Gambia's largest fish market at Tanji is a collection of fish smoking buildings. For centuries fish have been smoked here and either sold domestically or exported to other parts of North Africa, particularly Nigeria. Caught in the Atlantic, the fish are smoked for days after which they can be kept without refrigeration for months.
Tanji, The Gambia
Not only fish are caught by net dragging trawlers but also shells. This man came to purchase the shells caught up in the nets of a Thai trawler to sell as souvenirs to tourists,
Phuket, Thailand
On the beach at Tanji is Gambia's largest fish market. Every morning and afternoon African pirogues bring fish back to shore from the Atlantic. The fish are then immediately bought by customers and middle-men creating chaotic scenes involving hundreds of people.
Tanji, The Gambia
An Indian women prepares shrimp to dry in the sun in a remote fishing community of India's west coast.
Dahanu, India
A Burmese fisherman takes a quick nap before starting work on a fishing net as the boat leaves for the open ocean.
Gulf of Thailand, Thailand
The portrait of a Cambodian fisherman on a night trawler.
Chonburi, Thailand
Burmese fishermen working all night on a Thai trawler boat off the coast of Phuket. Thailand is the third largest exporter of fish in the world after China and the US. Its fishing fleet is vast, but years of unregulated trawling has causes incredible damage to fish stocks.
A 3 kilometer nursery zone exists around the whole coastal region, but this is often ignored as punishments are lenient. Most fishing is done at night when trawlers, varying in size, leave for the darkness of the sea returning in the morning with their catch that in many cases has more than halved in recent years.
Gulf of Thailand
Behind Gambia's largest fish market at Tanji is a collection of fish smoking buildings. For centuries fish have been smoked here and either sold domestically or exported to other parts of North Africa, particularly Nigeria. Caught in the Atlantic, the fish are smoked for days after which they can be kept without refrigeration for months.
Tanji, The Gambia
Thai workers pull tuna into nets in the hold, where the temperature is minus 22 degrees Celsius. The large ship is docked just outside Bangkok and will spend one week unloading hundres of tonnes of tuna. Each frozen skipjack carcass weighs about 40 kilograms (88 pounds); one ton of skipjack fetches about $1,600 on the wholesale market.
Samut Prakan, Thailand
Cambodian fishermen sleep as the trawler boat returns to the shore at dawn after a night out at sea.
Ang Sila, Thailand
A Cambodian fisherman stands on the side of his boat as it returns to harbour after a night in the open ocean.
Chonburi, Thailand
In the Gulf of Thailand a Thai fishing trawler uses lights to attract a certain type of fish to the surface before dropping the net.
Phuket Island, Thailand
Luke Duggleby - Photographer
Website of photographer Luke Duggleby. Based in Bangkok, Thailand, Luke specialises in documentary and portrait photography focusing on Asia.