Illegal fishing: Togo
Togo's compact Gulf of Guinea EEZ supports an artisanal fleet that feeds coastal communities, but foreign trawlers working the zone with transponders switched off drain that resource quietly. On one of the shortest coastlines in the region, where near-shore stocks are quickly exhausted, illegal fishing carries an immediate social and economic cost.
Theft beyond the reach of Togolese patrols
Foreign trawlers work the edges of the zone where patrol vessels rarely reach, land catch in ports that ask few questions, and vanish from cooperative tracking so they cannot be prosecuted on suspicion. Ocean surveillance satellites detect and track vessels across the whole zone, including those running dark, turning an empty map into a queue of leads. Modular aerial platform kits classify the contacts that matter, closing to confirm gear and identity, so an interception is ordered against evidence, and the imagery captured becomes part of the case file.
A small zone with no water to spare
Because Togo's coastline and EEZ are so small, there is almost no unaffected water to fall back on when a bank is stripped, so the collapse of a near-shore stock is felt immediately by the artisanal communities that depend on it. Enforcement needs a continuous, defensible record of who was where and when, one that holds up in an admiralty court and does not depend on a distant partner choosing to share a satellite pass. A satellite baseline over a season also lets the fisheries authority size the problem honestly before committing scarce patrol assets.
How engagement works in Togo
As an independent, non-aligned prime vendor, Unstrat represents the makers of the satellites and drones directly, so the resulting picture is owned by the Togolese maritime authority outright, tasked on national priorities, retained under national control and admissible without a foreign government's permission to declassify. One accountable team runs the programme from a baseline survey through persistent coverage to sovereign, in-region operation. The end state is a fisheries watch Togo runs itself, sustained in-region rather than remotely.
Guarding a zone with no water to spare
Work with the maritime and fisheries authorities begins with a briefing on the compact EEZ and how illegal trawling behaves along its edges and into the near-shore water the artisanal fleet depends on. End use is confirmed and the export-control position cleared for the satellites and drones before any representation. Capability is matched to real conditions: one of the shortest coastlines in the region with almost no unaffected water, the patrol reach, the analysts who will build a defensible record. Coverage is fitted to a zone where a stripped bank is felt immediately rather than to a template. Delivery is phased from a season-long baseline to persistent coverage, with localisation arrangements scoped per programme, subject to export controls and end-use approvals, and one accountable team carrying it into sovereign, in-region operation. The advantage is a fisheries watch Togo runs itself, protecting the resource and the livelihoods tied to it.
Relevant capability
Adjacent priorities in Togo
Togo's very short Gulf of Guinea coastline is watched by a small radar chain with predictable gaps that smugglers, illegal trawlers and unauthorised approaches learn to use. Conventional coastal radar reaches only to the horizon, leaving the mid-water and the far EEZ effectively unwatched off a coast dominated by the transshipment hub at Lomé.
Problem pageTogo has one of the shortest coastlines in West Africa, yet the Port of Lomé and its approaches sit squarely in the Gulf of Guinea's piracy zone. Armed robbery and the kidnapping of crews off Lomé raise the insurance costs attached to every hull calling at the hub and threaten the transshipment trade on which the national economy overwhelmingly depends.
Problem pageSmuggling flows through Togo along the corridor that links the Port of Lomé to the landlocked Sahel: fuel, consumer goods and re-exported commerce cross the borders wherever surveillance is thinnest. The cumulative loss to customs revenue is significant for a state whose fiscal base leans heavily on trade, and the erosion of control over the northern frontier is strategic.
Problem pageRelevant solutions
Togo: security context
Togo's priorities concentrate on its gateway to the sea: port and maritime security, monitoring of its northern border, and continuous coastal surveillance. It is an environment where a small footprint magnifies the value of every approach that must be watched.
An accountable single-channel engagement gives Togo a coherent counterpart for that awareness, port and maritime security, northern border monitoring and coastal surveillance, with disciplined export-control and end-user handling. A security agency gains end-use certified equipment and localisation arrangements scoped per programme, subject to export controls and end-use approvals.
About this challenge
Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing drains coastal economies and undermines sovereignty over the exclusive economic zone. Persistent satellite surveillance, satellite-data fisheries analytics and aerial ISR give maritime authorities the picture they need to intercept offenders, without depending on a major power's data feed.
Frequently asked questions
Can illegal fishing in Togo's EEZ be detected when vessels go dark?
Yes. Cooperative tracking only shows vessels that choose to be seen. Ocean surveillance satellites detect and track hulls independently of any transponder, so a trawler running dark still appears, and modular aerial platform kits close in to confirm identity and gear, turning a dark contact into a documented one.
Why is illegal fishing especially damaging for a country with a coastline as short as Togo's?
Because there is almost no unaffected water to fall back on when a bank is stripped, so a near-shore stock collapse is felt immediately by the artisanal communities that depend on it. Persistent surveillance lets authorities intercept illegal trawling before that happens, protecting both the resource and the livelihoods tied to it.
Is satellite-derived fishing evidence usable in a Togolese prosecution?
It can be, which is why ownership matters. Because the sensing comes from independent, non-aligned suppliers, the imagery and tracks are retained under national control and can be produced in an admiralty case without waiting on a foreign government to release a pass.