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Date: 30/03/2026 — Amman, March 2026
ARIJ organized a webinar titled “Hunting Illegal Fishing without getting on a boat – The Med Mosaic Grant,” presented by journalist and founder of the Med Mosaic project Mona Samari, and moderated by investigative journalist and ARIJ Investigations Editor Ahmad Ashour. The webinar brought together two main tracks: an overview of tools for investigating maritime crimes and illegal fishing in the Mediterranean, and an introduction to the Med Mosaic grants available to journalists across the Middle East and North Africa region.
From Vessel Tracking to Uncovering Maritime Crimes
Samari opened by framing the investigative landscape in the fisheries sector, noting that the Mediterranean is among the world’s most overfished seas, and that journalists covering this beat must combine human storytelling skills with the precision of a lawyer when handling evidence and legislation. She walked participants through the practical methodology of vessel tracking, starting with the Automatic Identification System (AIS) — continuously broadcast by vessels to prevent collisions at sea — and the unique International Maritime Organization (IMO) registration number assigned to each vessel, which remains unchanged regardless of name or flag changes across all ports, through to the use of the Global Fishing Watch platform to monitor vessel movements and cross-reference them with fleet registry data published by the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM).
The webinar covered six key investigative angles supported by the Med Mosaic grant, including tracking a single vessel across multiple jurisdictions, monitoring destructive fishing practices such as blast fishing and juvenile fish harvesting, tracing the journey of fish from catch to European markets, investigating government fuel subsidies and whether they incentivize overfishing, and reviewing oversight mechanisms for marine protected areas — which currently cover no more than 0.2% of the Mediterranean’s total surface. Samari closed her presentation with details on the grant, through which individual investigations can be funded with up to €1,900 and cross-border collaborative investigations with up to €8,000, with a submission deadline of April 16, 2026.
Participation from 19 Countries
The webinar was attended by over 80 participants from 19 different countries across the Arab region and beyond. Post-webinar evaluation results conducted by ARIJ showed a high overall satisfaction rate of approximately 89% for both the training content and the trainer.
Participant Testimonials
Mohamed Hisham from Egypt said: “This is the first time I’ve attended training on tracking illegal fishing — it added an important and previously invisible dimension to this topic for me.”
Maria Mansour from Lebanon noted that “the session raised a subject that does not receive adequate attention from the relevant authorities.”
Mohamed Hamid from Egypt highlighted among his key takeaways “the simplification of legal and technical information related to methods of overfishing, alongside the field investigations presented by the trainer.”
This webinar is part of ARIJ’s ongoing efforts to broaden the horizons of Arab investigative journalism and open new funding and methodological pathways for journalists in the region — to address cross-border environmental issues that touch on food security, environmental justice, and the rights of coastal communities.
