According to “ADF”, a military magazine published by the US Africa Command (AFRICOM), the income from these fisheries is needed by Russia, which is subject to Western sanctions, to continue its war with Ukraine.
What losses does Africa suffer due to illegal fishing?
Where exactly do Russian trawlers operate?
What agreements has Russia signed with Morocco?
What are the biological consequences of fishing in African waters?
Accused of overfishing in the Baltic, Arctic and Black Sea, Russia is currently carrying out such predatory exploitation in African waters that annuallyaccounts for an estimated $11.2 billion in illegal fishing, of which $9.4 billion is lost in West Africa.
Russia is among the leading countries engaged in illegal fishing
According to the Fishing Risk Index (IUU), which ranks countries based on their vulnerability to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, Russia consistently ranks among the top countries accused of illegal fishing, second only to China.
“As we have seen with gold and other minerals, diamonds, and to some extent oil and gas, Russia sees an opportunity to expand fishing in Africa's exclusive economic zones,” Joseph Siegle, a senior researcher at the University of Maryland, College Park and an expert on Russian influence in Africa, told Bloomberg last November.
Russian agreements and losses of African countries
In December 2025, Russia signed a fishing agreement with Morocco, a country that loses approximately $500 million annually due to the illegal exploitation of its marine resources. Under the previous agreement, Russia received the right of access to Moroccan waters for 10 of its trawlers, which could catch 140,000. tons of small fish species such as sardines and mackerel. In return, as reported by Seafood Source magazine, Moscow paid Morocco $7 million a year.
In Sierra Leone, which loses about $50 million annually due to illegal fishing, Russia gained access to 40,000. tons of fish per year.
In addition to Morocco and Sierra Leone, Russian trawlers operate in Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania, Namibia, Nigeria and Senegal.
A threat to Africa's marine resources
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), more than half of the fish stocks from the Strait of Gibraltar to the mouth of the Congo River in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where Russian trawlers operate, are already biologically unsustainable.
Experts cited by AFD magazine said that Russia's interest in African fish will further threaten the continent's marine resources.
Like Chinese vessels, Russian trawlers are known for illegal fishing, illegal transhipment of fish at sea, a practice intended to conceal their origin, routinely disabling identification systems during fishing, and excessive catching of endangered species.
Outside of Africa, the Kremlin's fleet conducts illegal activities in the waters of Alaska, Antarctica, the Arctic Ocean, Japan and South Korea.
