What Is Illegal Fishing?

A cartoon crash course

What Is Illegal Fishing?

Every second, criminals steal 1,800 pounds of fish from our oceans. Not only does poaching damage marine ecosystems, this piracy also hurts legitimate fishermen, who rely on a healthy ocean. What are the different types of illegal fishing? How this crime can make waves throughout the ocean and around the world. Watch and learn!

Cartoonist Jim Toomey—whose daily comic strip, Sherman’s Lagoon, is syndicated in more than 250 newspapers in the United States—has joined forces with The Pew Charitable Trusts to illustrate "illegal fishing" and other terms associated with our oceans.

Watch the full ocean terms video series.