West African fish stocks and fishing communities have been decimated by Chinese boats in the Gulf of Guinea, environmental groups claim.

A South African think tank called the Institute for Security Studies said communities could lose over $2 billion every year to illegal fishing, mostly from boats owned by Chinese Indeed, Geoffroy Gbedevi, the Beninese fisherman believes that the community is suffering and that the number of fish caught is much lower than before. According to the Environmental Justice Foundation, illegal fishing boats in Ghana used Ghanaian flags, but 90% of them belonged to Chinese owners.

China for its part has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, with an article published last year in the state-affiliated Global Times dismissing what it called “Western media rumors” about illegal fishing in China and saying that Beijing had strengthened surveillance of deep-sea fishing boats. Countries in the Gulf of Guinea joined together this year to crack down on illegal fishing. Benin, Ghana and Togo have agreed to joint patrols and information sharing with the support of the European Fisheries Control Agency via a center in Accra, Ghana.