It's past midnight and the officer manning Namibia's fisheries monitoring centre in Walvis Bay notices that a vessel near the Namibia-Angola border has stopped transmitting its location. At the same time, a Namibian fishing vessel's radar detects a foreign vessel notorious for illegal fishing, entering Namibia's waters. Both the officer and the vessel alert the Namibian navy and the fisheries department in Walvis Bay. Calls to the vessel's flag state remain unanswered, and without a law enforcement vessel located near the Namibia-Angola maritime border, the foreign vessel escapes. This scenario is not uncommon on the Namibia-Angola border, a fishing industry representative tells ENACT. He says their vessels regularly report suspicious vessels, but no action follows, often due to limited resources. Although Namibia's waters are rich in valuable fish species, its horse mackerel is the country's biggest fishery by volume. It is also under threat from foreign vessels flying flags of convenience coming from Angola's waters. In 2023, the Confederation of Namibian Fishing Associations expressed concern, describing how these vessels plunder upwards of a 100 000 tonnes of fish from Namibia's waters annually. This is estimated to result in N$1.5 billion in annual revenue losses. The cold Benguela Current hugging Southern Africa's western shores produces prolific fish stocks in countries like Namibia, Angola, and South Africa. Fishing is Namibia's third-biggest gross domestic product contributor, generating N$10 billion in 2021 and providing around 17 000 direct jobs. But these lucrative fish stocks, coupled with limited maritime law enforcement presence, border-hopping, and the evasive nature of fishing vessels, attract exploitation.