Photo essay: Southeast Asia's overfishing crisis — and the effort to uncover its roots

A photo exhibition offering a rare look into industrial fishing in Southeast Asia — and its impact on fragile marine ecosystems — was on display at a New York gallery last month.

The nine-month investigation by freelance photojournalist Nicole Tung, titled “Overfishing in Southeast Asia,” spans Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia. The work was recently displayed at the Bronx Documentary Center, a nonprofit gallery and educational space.

More than a dozen images capture Filipino fishermen at sea, threatened species including sharks and wedgefish, and hundreds of commercial fishing vessels docked in Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta.

While the United States enforces strict laws governing seafood imports tied to forced labor, Tung said more oversight is needed.

“Buyers don’t always know where it’s coming from,” she said in an interview on “NBC News Daily.”

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New exhibit highlights impact of industrial fishing

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She added that women in the industry face growing uncertainty, often working on docks while their husbands are employed on commercial fishing vessels.

If their husbands go missing, “there’s usually no legal recourse for them,” Tung said. “That affects their families and their livelihoods.”

According to the Bronx Documentary Center, the photographs trace “the journey from local ports to global markets,” exposing the fragility — and human cost — behind seafood supply chains that reach consumers worldwide.

Experts say overfishing in Southeast Asia requires closer monitoring.

“The first important point is monitoring and understanding stock status,” said Matsuishi Takashi Fritz, a professor in the Faculty of Fisheries Sciences at Hokkaido University in Japan, who added that combating illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing is also critical.

Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing — known as IUU fishing — is a global problem that puts law-abiding seafood producers at a significant disadvantage. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, about 80% of the world’s fisheries are either fully exploited or overexploited.

Tung also offered advice for consumers seeking to avoid unknowingly supporting such practices.

“A lot of what people can do is read labels carefully and look at what kind of certifications the seafood has,” she said. “If possible, to buy locally sourced or from fish markets that source seafood locally.”