Fisherman Toughest Place to be a...

Andy Giles is a Cornish fisherman

who swapped his state-of-the-art trawler for a dugout canoe

on the high seas off Sierra Leone.

For a minute there I thought we were goners,

I thought "Oh, my God, here we go", I thought I was going to go for a swim.

He saw how the livelihood of a small fishing village was being threatened

by illegal trawlers stealing their fish.

-They're firing catapults at us now.

-Now he's returning...

Andy!

..to a country transformed.

They've got more than double.

So happy.

And he finds himself on the front line of a war against illegal trawling.

Trawlerman Andy Giles fishes the seas off England's south coast.

In 2011 he swapped his home comforts for a dug out canoe

and a tiny village in Sierra Leone.

'Sierra Leone was tough, it was such an eye-opener,

'it was like going back in time.'

They literally take their life in their hands every time they go to sea.

Oooh, not right at me!

His experience in west Africa made him take stock of his own life in Cornwall.

'If I've changed, I've probably become more compassionate towards

'the children and stuff, I don't do so many days at sea

'so I can spend more time with the kids and watch them grow up,

'because they're only young once.'

I'm really glad I did it,

and I'm really looking forward to going back out and seeing the lads.

Because soon, Andy will be returning to Sierra Leone for the next chapter

in a story that began 18 months ago.

Back then, Andy's life as a fisherman had rarely taken him far

from the coast of Cornwall.

Coming down, mate.

He's the proud owner and skipper of the 100-tonne trawler, the Guiding Light.

'I've not always been a fisherman.

'I worked in a shop when I was younger,

'albeit a fish shop, but I didn't like it.'

I decided to go the other route and go catching the fish.

You couldn't do the job if you didn't love it.

It's just a way of life, I think, more than a job to me.

When you put the nets away in the morning,

you don't know what you're going to catch.

It's a nice surprise.

I still get excited now, a little bit, which is a bit strange

and funny, I suppose, but...

Costing three-quarters of a million pounds,

Andy's trawler is designed to take the strain out of fishing.

On a good day, he can land more than a thousand pounds' worth of fish.

The monkfish, that's big value fish. Sea bass, big value fish.

Quite happy with that, really. It's all right.

Once on board, the catch is gutted,

sorted, washed and put below decks,

ready for market.

The Guiding Light is equipped with the latest technology

to locate and hunt down the fish.

There are also a few home comforts on board.

Obviously, a nice chair, telly and the internet,

it's all nice to have, because you're spending a lot of time here,

so, keep the boredom factor away as well, obviously.

In a few days' time, Andy will be leaving his trawler and saying goodbye

to the quiet Cornish village where he lives with his family.

Count them. One, two, three, four, five, six.

Are you counting all the fishies?

He's heading off into the unknown

with only his fishing skills to fall back on.

It's a question of, "Can Andy hack it as a fisherman

"when everything's taken away from him?" Can I do it?

I don't know, I'm going to have to wait and see. Hopefully I can.

Sierra Leone, West Africa -

a country of five million people on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean.

This is one of the poorest countries in the world.

Its large coastal population relies on one thing to stay alive - fish.

Every day, thousands of subsistence fishermen put to sea

in wooden canoes in a daily struggle to feed their families.

Now, their way of life is under threat.

Trawlers from as far afield as China

are illegally plundering the coastal fishing grounds

and leaving very little for the locals.

Much of the country's fish finds its way to the tables of Europe and the Far East.

Yet more than a third of Sierra Leone's children are chronically malnourished.

Just looks like there's nothing here at all.

There's no buildings, there's no power lines,

there's no... there's nothing, nothing at all.

Andy is heading to the remote south of the country

and a small fishing village called Mania.

Whether they'll have painted faces and everything

and dance round the fire in loincloths, I don't know,

but I'm expecting the worst at the moment, to be honest,

so... Not that that's bad, but totally different, totally alien to what I'm used to.

You sure someone lives here?

Cos I don't think there's anybody that's living here, to be honest.

Hey.

Andy's hosts for the week will be Kaba Cane

and his cousin Ishmael.

-Ishmael?

-Yes. How are you?

-I'm good.

-Are you good?

-Yeah, yeah, I'm good.

-OK.

-Plenty of fish?

-Yes.

Mania village is home to a few hundred people who, like Andy,

make their living from the sea.

'Everybody from the village seems to have turned up

'to see who's the white man in the boat, so...it was very nice.'

Kids wouldn't leave my hand go.

'Then one would let go and then another one would fill in,

'so it's...very, very friendly, to say the least.'

I didn't expect that, to be honest.

I have friends!

For the next week, Andy will be living with Ishmael's family.

So come with us, come and see.

-The bed.

-Yeah.

-So, welcome.

-OK, thank you very much.

And these are all your kids?

-You're sure they're not all yours?

-Yes.

He'll be joining one of Mania's ten boat crews

and he's keen to get started.

Can you show me the boat we're going to go to sea on?

OK, cool.

Until now, Andy has no idea what kind of boat he'll be fishing from.

-OK. Engine, this?

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Andy will be putting to sea in what is, in effect, a hollowed-out tree.

Big sun, so we'll see the net.

So I see the boat, it's got a hole at the back

and it's stitched together with twine at the back.

-Yes, the breakers here, yeah? Pushed the bottom of the boat in?

-Yes.

The breakers which damaged Kaba's canoe mark the point

where the river meets the ocean.

Often rising up to four metres high, they form a daunting barrier

to the open sea and the best fishing grounds.

How safe is it to go through the breakers in a boat?

-Are you expecting me to do this?

-Yes.

I wouldn't like to go through the breakers in my boat.

It's not easy. It's not easy.

Ishmael and Kaba have picked up on Andy's nervousness.

-In a boat like this?

-Yes.

-Zero.

ISHMAEL CHUCKLES

In a boat, but not this sort of boat.

-It was not this?

-No.

Can I swim?

Yeah. I can swim, yeah.

It's beginning to dawn on Andy that all his fishing experience

might not mean much out here.

I don't suppose they have much faith in me at the moment

and you have to prove yourself when you're a fisherman.

Anybody can say "I'm a fisherman." I'll have to prove myself.

I don't want to let anybody down or anything,

so... We'll have to see later on and see where it takes us.

Kaba and Ishmael are also having their doubts

about taking Andy through the breakers.

Andy is going to have to get used to having fish for dinner...

and lunch...

and breakfast.

It's very spicy.

-Eat.

-I am eating, I'm eating.

I have a small appetite.

As Andy reflects on his first day in Sierra Leone,

his semi-detached house in Cornwall

is beginning to feel a long way away.

We had tea, rice and spicy fish which I wasn't too keen on.

It's getting late, there's no electrics,

there's no lights on anywhere, there's no TV. There's no...

There still seem to be people milling around

but a very, very strange place to be.

A very strange place.

We'll see how tomorrow goes and hopefully it's OK.

Overnight the village fishermen have been busy.

No sleep?

-1.30, we move.

-When do you sleep?

Little has changed in this fishing community for centuries.

But the way of life here is now hanging in the balance.

The rich fishing grounds along this coast are supposed to be protected.

There's a five-mile exclusion zone to keep out trawlers,

but increasingly, big foreign boats are fishing illegally close

to the shore, with tragic consequences for the villagers.

Tragic story. It's...

You know, not only are you fighting for a living,

they're wrecking everything for you.

We suffer.

Everybody is suffering because of these trawlers.

I can't see the trawlers now. They're not here. When are they here?

How anybody deals with having your loved ones, nephews,

uncles, be killed at sea is shocking, really. They're losing life.

It just seems a free-for-all here for the big trawlers.

Early next morning Andy is about to see the problem first-hand.

KNOCKS ON DOOR

So Kaba's just knocked, woke me up at three o'clock

and there's trawlers on the beach.

They do sound close.

I can actually hear the engines.

Where we were yesterday.

I would say he's closer in than we were yesterday.

Kaba and Ishmael were about to go night fishing when they spotted

the two illegal trawlers working under cover of darkness.

No.

You can't go now?

You can't go because he's there. There's another one here.

The other one here, he's turned his lights off. He is being sneaky.

Sneaky, lights. He's even closer. Is he...?

The trawlers make it too dangerous to go out fishing.

KABA SIGHS

A whole night's work has been ruined.

The next day the village needs fish and the trawlers seem to have gone.

It means that it's time for Andy to have his first taste of fishing

Sierra Leone style.

So what's this for?

-What's it made of?

-Plastic.

-Plastic?

-Yes.

-This looks like an umbrella.

-Yes.

-An umbrella and plastic.

-Umbrella, OK. And this is a plastic bag here?

-Yes.

-OK.

I did a little bit of sailing when I was younger

-so I'll see I can remember, OK?

-OK.

-You can remember?

-Yes.

-It's hot today, isn't it?

-Oh, it's hot.

It's about 30 degrees today, at least, I would think.

Kaba and Ishmael are setting a punishing pace.

Andy is struggling to keep up.

It's easier standing up to be honest.

Sitting down does your knees in, your legs in and your elbows in.

See the road?

Ah, the road, the road through, the gateway, yes?

Andy's about to tackle the breakers for the first time.

Yes?

OK.

They've already being paddling for two miles and Andy's exhausted.

But the only safe way through the breakers is at speed.

ANDY LAUGHS

Oh, dear.

The breakers are behind them.

Now it's time to fish.

The lines are set and all they can do is wait.

That's not a good start.

We spent all morning baiting hooks up and cutting bait

and then to catch nothing, it's just...

..poor. Very, very poor. I feel for them, really.

If Ishmael and Kaba don't catch any fish, their families will go hungry.

I don't know, I'm just getting more demoralised.

I just hope that we catch a couple of fish in a minute.

There's still a few hooks to go so...

The foreign trawlers have done their damage.

As a trawler man himself, Andy knows the impact they can have.

These are, unfortunately, prime trawling grounds

so the trawler's probably been here in the night,

two or three boats here,

and what they haven't scooped up

they've chased away so that's why there's nothing here.

But the trawlers didn't get everything.

So we have ONE.

That's not going to go very far between 30 people.

With the tide turning, the breakers are rising. It's time to head home.

Their safe passage now depends on a sail made out of plastic bags

and umbrellas.

Skipper Kaba has to judge exactly the right moment to make his move.

Kaba is using the tiller and the sail to keep the dugout on course.

He has to try and stay ahead of the breakers.

One false move and the canoe will capsize.

For a minute there, I thought we were goners.

But a breaker picked us up.

The boat started to heel, and then we're broadside onto the breaker

and it was...

My heart was going at ten to the dozen, I was...

I thought, "Oh, my God, here we go."

I thought I was going for a swim.

Luckily, Kaba, fantastic captain today, some hairy moments.

-I am a good captain.

-You are the only captain.

Andy has survived his encounter with the breakers but the poor catch

has driven home how illegal trawling affects the village of Mania.

CICADAS SING

'I feel their anger.

'But what can you do?'

You've got a wood canoe, basically, against a 30 metre steel trawler.

They're not going to do anything at all. You can't do anything.

They've already lost one life, how can they lose any more?

They can't do it so... It's such a shame.

I feel like I want to help out by some means because these

are good, good men just working to provide for their families.

No fish? You haven't got any?

Next morning and the only thing for breakfast is yesterday's leftovers.

Are we eating?

Everybody is talking about the poor catch.

I have to go to sea to feed my family

but it's nothing like that, I'm afraid. What I go through is nothing.

We'd always get by and if you go on the dole

there's the government that give you money anyway so...

if these don't go to work, that's it, they cease to exist. It's...

It's a little bit different.

A lot different, in fact! So, yeah...

Without fish to sell,

the villagers can't afford the most basic necessities

and Andy is about to learn just how precarious life is in Mania village.

CHILD CRIES

-Malaria?

-Yes, Malaria.

Do children die in this village from catching malaria?

Makes it all real. Blimey.

You think if your own daughter's ill it's...

I don't know. It's...

..hugely, hugely upsetting.

It just makes you think of home and stuff so...

OK... So...

It seems to be that the children are suffering more than anybody else

or they suffer first.

It's very shocking. It sounds like everybody has lost a child.

Luckily, today, there is medicine for Ishmael's daughter

but the future of her community and thousands like it

along the West African Coast

won't be secure until illegal trawling is controlled.

It just feels like I want to help out more, I want to...

Which I will try, but it's um...

I feel for them.

Andy's decided to find out more about the illegal trawlers

that blight the villagers' lives.

So we're off to Freetown to hopefully see the trawlers

that we've seen in the darkness.

Whether they will let us aboard the boats, I don't know.

I doubt it, but if we can blag our way on some way, we will.

I'm hoping I can sort of say I am a fisherman from the UK

and they might let me on,

but I'm going to have to hold these two back when we get there because

they could be stepping aboard to have a word with the skipper, so...

Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone.

Here trawlers transfer their catch on to bigger ships to be frozen

and shipped around the world, including Europe.

Most trawlers are only interested in high-value fish.

All the rest, including thousands of tonnes that local people could eat,

are thrown away.

It's a multi-million pound business.

Do you think we'll be able to get aboard these boats? I hope so.

-So these are the same vessels, yes?

-Yes.

-You think so? This big one out there?

-This big one.

How do you feel to see the trawlers up close?

The only way for Andy to speak to the trawler skippers is to hire

a local motorised canoe.

You can see that Kaba's getting very animated.

Getting very excited about seeing the trawlers up close.

I hope the skipper doesn't come out of the wheelhouse

cos he could be jumping over and having a dust up so...

As they approach, the first trawler weighs anchor.

You can see he's turning. He's trying to evade us, definitely.

There's one alongside here. We'll go, he can't run. He can't run.

The crew of the second trawler aren't interested in talking either.

No idea. Well, maybe he'll hold, yeah, yeah.

And they seem prepared to do anything to keep Andy away from their boat.

They obviously don't want us to film

because they're firing catapults at us now.

Whoa, whoa.

He's firing a catapult at us.

He's firing stones off the deck, or bits of steel off the deck at us

to get us to go.

Ishmael and Kaba are saying this is what happens

when they get near them at sea.

When they row up in their little boats,

they're on the big boat firing stones at them.

It's just unbelievable. It should be the other way round.

I can't believe how close that was.

It's quite hairy, really, someone throwing ballbearings at you.

They obviously know what they're doing is totally,

totally out of order and...

wrong.

Andy has discovered how powerless the fishermen feel.

Lack of resources, and corruption mean that the government here

does little to enforce the fishing laws.

Andy's been in the village for a few days now

and the catches are still low.

They desperately need a good haul to feed their families

but Ishmael isn't feeling hopeful.

So you're not expecting many fish?

That's a shame.

No.

Today the gods of the sea are on their side.

Oh, another one, yeah?

Whoa!

-Is that good, yes?

-Yes.

-Good fish?

-Good fish.

-Happy?

-Yeah, happy now.

Oh, good, you're happy. As long as you're happy.

I'm happy now. Yeah, happier now we've caught a fish.

-We need to see another one now.

-Spanish.

-Spanish?

-Yes.

Hey! Here he is. Spanish.

-Throw him back now?

-No, no, no!

I'm so happy now with this.

They probably think I was a right Jonah. They won't bring me again,

but we've caught some fish and they're happy

so that's all good, I'm really pleased for them.

For once, the trawlers seem to have left them a decent catch.

We've actually caught some fish so now we can eat

and I've felt a bit guilty because they have an extra mouth to feed

so to actually contribute is... It feels good.

This way?

But a Mania fisherman's duties aren't over

when the fish is landed.

-All that on my head?

-Yes.

-Yes.

-I can try, but I might drop them.

Well, you have to carry them.

-Well, I don't know, I don't carry things on my head.

-Never?

-Never.

-Try.

-Try.

Yes, but...

The three fish are about 20 pounds in weight.

It's actually not heavy, it's just flattening the top of my head.

-I can't carry this all that way, no way. No chance.

-Take it.

-No.

I can't carry it that far, no.

-You're lazy.

-I'm not lazy.

-I've carried six, I've carried six.

-You carried six?

-Yes.

Women have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten...

-Oh, one dozen?

-One dozen on their head.

Tonight there's food for everyone.

When there's more fish than the villagers can eat,

they sell what's left over for badly needed cash.

After a big catch, Mania's smoke houses work around the clock.

They're smoking the fish to preserve it.

Obviously, fresh fish in Africa is not going to last

because there's no fridges, no freezers, no ice, so fresh fish is

not going to be fresh for more than four or five hours, less than that.

Two or three hours in the sun. So...

they need to smoke the fish to preserve it, to keep

it for the end of the week cos the market is at the end of the week.

The smoke houses need wood

and finding it gives yet another job for Kaba and Ishmael.

They don't stop, they're machines. I've just had a go at it.

The wood is like bloody concrete.

I'm knackered after cutting one, well, two things.

I'm absolutely shattered. My hands are hurting.

I'm going to sound like a right Jessie when this goes out at home.

They don't stop.

He's up the bloody tree doing it now! It's just...

Timber!

They're fishermen, tree surgeons, they're builders,

they're net makers. It's just... You know...

They give Steve Redgrave a good run for his money in the rowing boat.

It's just... They just don't stop.

I'm cutting, I'm cutting.

Yes, OK.

-Cup of tea?

-Cup of tea!

-Yeah, yeah.

-Fatima, me carry?

-Yes.

Yes?

Fatima, Ishmael's wife, is the boss of the smokehouse.

OK?

You are going to carry more?

OK?

You're going to carry more?

Yes.

Blimey. I feel so inadequate now.

Look.

Fatima keeps the smokehouse running,

turning the catch into a commodity that is the staple

diet across Sierra Leone.

Its damn hot in here.

The mouth here, and the mouth here,

so it's been... It's literally been peeled apart into halves.

So it doesn't look that appetising with all the bugs

crawling all over it.

It's just alive with things.

-Really?

-Mmm.

-OK.

Wow. Um...

Feeding and supporting hundreds of people solely by fishing

demands relentless graft from everyone in the village.

If they came and worked this hard in England, they'd be rich people

because they just work and they work and they work some more.

Fatima today, fantastic. Three kids to look after.

She's cooked everybody breakfast, she's then done the washing.

Then she's got down and got wood, and chopped the word, and then she's

got water, and then she's smoked all the fish, 40 hours a week.

They would do 40 hours a day if it was possible.

A week into his stay in the village

Andy is going with Kaba and Ishmael to take their dried fish to market.

Fish accounts for 70% of the animal protein

consumed in Sierra Leone.

Local fishermen come to the market in Yagoi to sell their catch.

Ishmael and Kaba are trying to organise something

to try and get the fish ashore, but there's no room for anything.

There's no room to stand, hardly. It's absolute chaos.

Kaba thinks he's found a buyer for the fish.

WOMAN SPEAKS

-We think they're worth 260,000, yes?

-Yes.

260. Can't pay that.

-You not pay that?

-No.

-You tell how much.

-120.

-No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

-250.

-It's too much.

-Too much?

-Yeah.

Three big men, look. Look. We need to eat!

-That what they're saying? 190?

-180.

-190.

-180.

-190.

-Yes.

-Yes?

-Yeah.

-Yes.

-She's agreed.

-It's good.

-Yes? OK, it's good?

-Yes.

-Good. Happy?

-Yeah, happy.

-Good, good.

So, the money we have for the fish is 30 quid,

so they need to split that six ways.

They split it one each for the fishermen,

which apparently I'm one of them,

so that's three gone.

There's one for the transport,

one for the smoking house

and one for the nets and stuff, so that's six.

That's a fiver, so I've worked for a fiver for a week.

The guys have done the same, fiver each for the week.

It's, um...a fiver.

So hard for them. So, so hard.

Heartbreaking to see what they've gone through all week,

and this is just one week that might have been a good week for them.

It's heartbreaking how hard they work. I'd like to take them on.

They could work for me any day of the week,

because these guys just... Well, they don't know when they're beaten.

They'll just carry on and on and on and on and, you know,

hat off to them.

-Thanks for looking after me, yeah?

-Thank you for that. Thanks.

-OK.

-So happy.

-Yes, good. Two fantastic guys.

I couldn't have wished to be away with anybody else, really.

Really taken to them.

They're two good friends I've got, I think,

so hopefully they feel the same way, but I'm sure they do.

-Hi, Ed.

-Hi, Andy.

-All right, mate? Had any joy?

It's now 18 months since Andy returned from Sierra Leone

but he's never forgotten the fishermen of Mania.

How many hooks are there?

There's a box of a thousand, there should be two boxes.

Two boxes of hooks, fantastic. What they were using was,

if you can imagine, rusty and bent up.

When I came back I wasn't expecting people

to be so supportive. I just thought I was doing a TV programme

and it would be all forgotten, but the whole community pulled together.

I hope its... Make some use of it for them. Have a good trip.

Cheers. People wanted to help out, wanted to raise money,

wanted to do things for these people because they felt their plight.

All over the country, not just in Looe itself and not just in Cornwall.

It was a nationwide thing, people from all over ringing us up.

Wanted to know where they can donate money.

Now Andy's heading back to see how the £7,000 raised has helped

and how the villagers are faring in their struggle

with illegal trawlers.

Before he goes he's doing some last-minute shopping

for Kaba and Ishmael.

-Phil, do you do barrel weights?

-Barrels like that.

Ah, right, OK, yes. Because they were using sort of...

-spark plugs and stones wrapped up.

-Were they?

I'm really looking forward going back out and seeing the lads

It's the same job at the end of the day,

it's in a different continent but

they work with nets, I work with nets.

The end product is catching fish and that's what we're all there to do.

I really want these guys to catch more fish,

I don't want them to go to sea and not catch anything.

I want them to be happy with what they're doing

and what makes a fisherman happy is catching more fish.

It's a million miles from where I live in Cornwall, isn't it?

It's totally different.

I'm starting to get really excited now, we're getting close,

not far away now, getting a few butterflies in the stomach.

-Hooray!

-Andy!

-Kaba!

-Andy!

HE LAUGHS

Andy!

-Andy!

-How are you doing?

-A new boat?

-Yes..

-A new boat. And you've painted it.

-The old boat is gone. Finished?

-The boat is finished.

-Smoke, fire?

-The old boat broke up? On the breakers?

-Yes.

You sink? In the water? You swim? No? Yeah?

-Hello. How are you?

-Andy.

-Andy.

Wow, what a greeting, eh?

I can't stop smiling, I've got cheekache now

from smiling so much, it was fantastic, totally emotional, really.

Feel a bit of a tear welling up, you know, they were so happy to see me.

-Back in Mania.

-Back in Mania.

After a long journey, it's time for Andy to turn in.

But night time is prime fishing time for the men of Mania village.

As dawn breaks, they're returning to the beach.

They've been at sea for six hours, but it's been worth it.

-Hey.

-Andy.

-Kaba.

Big fish. Yay!

Hey, how you doing, all right? Ishmael, all right?

Good catch. Oh, brilliant.

You're going to play with a beautiful woman?

That's too much information, really!

The last time I was here I think the best catch we had was 7 fish

so today they've got 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10,

they've got more than double.

Happy, happy, happy.

Don't ask me to carry it on my head, I'm not carrying it on my head.

No, no, no.

OK? Steady, yeah?

I'm not lazy! Stop saying I'm lazy, OK, I'm trying, all right?

Shush you!

And it looks like today's bumper catch is not a one off.

Since Andy's last visit, everything has changed.

No trawlers?

All gone?

-One and a half years, no trawlers?

-No trawlers.

Well, that's brilliant, fantastic.

And you're happy?

You're always happy. So, no trawlers, which is good.

-So you can now put nets out and you are safe and your nets are safe.

-Yes.

-And also there's more fish?

-More fish.

-Good fish? Lots of fish? Big fish?

-Yes.

-Yes.

Without the illegal trawlers stealing their catch,

the villagers are selling more fish than ever before.

Europe for your fish. Right, OK. So, it goes to Europe now, the fish?

Yes, yes.

Wow, someone in Spain or France is eating your fish

-that you caught in Africa.

-Yes.

-That's mad.

-Yes.

-Yeah.

So more fish, no problems with the trawlers,

-bigger price for your fish...

-Yes.

-No wonder you're smiling!

In the last 18 months, the whole of Sierra Leone

has experienced a revolution in its fishing industry.

The government here has finally woken up

to the damage caused by illegal trawling.

Now the five mile exclusion zone around this coast

is being vigorously enforced.

The Environmental Justice Foundation, EJF,

played a key role in this dramatic turnaround.

One of their workers, Amara Kalone, is a regular visitor

to Mania village, where he monitors the health of the fish stocks.

So did my trip here last time help?

That's fantastic.

EJF used Andy's programme to help persuade the government

to take action.

So, I've brought some stuff from England...

With the trawlers gone, the fish stocks here are now recovering.

Andy hopes the supplies he's brought

will help the villagers catch even more of them.

Some float on the surface and some dive.

It's OK.

But it's the children of the village that he really wants to help.

The kids, they just have nothing,

they're literally playing in the dirt and they have nothing.

More than 40% of the population of Sierra Leone is under 14

and education here is very basic.

Six months ago, Andy sent out a shipment of school equipment,

bought with the money he helped raise.

But it looks like some of it didn't turn up.

This is all that's arrived?

So, not much, then, really. There was lots, probably 20 boxes of stuff.

Musical instruments, sports equipment, rugby balls, footballs.

There was boxes and boxes of pencils that we sent.

-That's all you've got left. Material to make uniforms.

-Uniforms.

For the children, not here.

Not here.

The missing equipment for the children

was stolen from the port in Freetown.

These kids have literally nothing so, yeah, I'm a bit upset

that so little gear has arrived, it's such a shame.

It's just a sad situation, really, but we'll...

Andy's brought some more supplies with him from Cornwall.

Although I was bringing it anyway, it just makes it all the better,

it fills in what they haven't got.

-Some footballs. I've got a pump to pump these up, OK?

-OK.

And some different teams, OK?

Frisbees for catching and throwing. OK?

So, there's some of them. Yes, you've got it, yeah.

One simple football, you can see the pleasure they have out of one ball,

for the stuff they've got there that's hours of fun for them,

catching a ball, throwing a ball. Sport is supposed to be fun,

You can see what fun they're having. So glad I bought it. So glad.

It's Andy's last day in the village.

And there's one more thing he has to do.

GRUNTING

There may be more fish in the sea, but you still have to catch them

and that means paddling.

I'm pulling, I'm pulling.

I'm a knackered fisherman.

It's as bad as I remember.

Jesus, man, they don't stop, they just keep going and going

and I'm thinking, "I need a rest, just 30 seconds then we'll go again."

They just keep going, "Come on, Andy, come on, Andy."

Swim up the fish.

No fish. Come on, where are the fish?

Can't blame it on the trawlers today!

Good fish, big fish.

I'm glad we caught something, eh?

You'd be calling me a Jonah, "You're not coming again!"

That is it one, one fish.

Never mind, it's fishing.

# South Australia, I was born

# Haul away, heave away

# Bound for South Australia... #

One big one is better than none at all.

-We could have caught none.

-Yes.

-Ah, rice and fish.

-Yes.

That makes a change.

Eat.

I'm eating, I'm eating, I don't really want to eat the head.

You seem happier, you don't seem so vexed as you were before.

18 months since I last came

-there's a big change, the village has changed.

-Yes.

Zinc roofs.

-That all takes money, yes?

-Yes.

So you must be earning good money to be able to afford new houses

-with zinc roofs.

-Yes, yes.

-OK.

I'm happy, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm happy that you're happy.

I'm really pleased that you're catching more fish.

For a poor country that relies so heavily on fishing,

all the changes mean a significant boost to living standards.

There's one last reason for this transformation

and to find out more, Andy is heading back to the harbour

at Freetown with Kaba and Ishmael.

We have to go out on this now, yeah?

The last time they were here, illegal trawlers were operating openly.

All that has changed because the government of Sierra Leone

now has a secret weapon.

And it's come from an unlikely source.

-This boat came from England?

-England.

-Yes.

Yes, Fast, fast, good boat.

The government of the Isle Of Man

donated this Fisheries Protection Vessel

shortly after Andy's last visit.

In charge of the operation, is Victor Kargbo.

Has this Isle Of Man boat made a huge difference to you?

For a desperately poor country

even one small vessel can make all the difference.

Now, the Fisheries Protection Officers can stop and inspect

any fishing boat in their national waters.

They're going in opposite directions trying to run away from us now.

Victor decides to pursue one of the trawlers,

but it doesn't seem too keen on being inspected.

HORN BLARES

But even if the trawler did want to run, there would be no point.

The Isle Of Man is the fastest boat in these waters.

The government can impose fines of up to a million dollars

if vessels are in breach of the law.

-It's a big boat, yes?

-Big.

Slow down.

With the trawler coming to a halt, the soldiers can board.

Victor and the boarding team are searching for any signs of illegal fishing.

They're checking net sizes and the boat's paperwork

to see if they have the correct fishing licenses.

It couldn't be more different from the last time

Andy, Kaba and Ishmael were here.

Remember the last time we got near one of these in Freetown?

-Yes.

-We went around and they were throwing... Different this time, yes?

They're not going to throw stones, because we have guns.

Satisfied that everything's in order,

Victor gives it the all clear.

The whole system is working here for them now,

to see Kaba and Ishmael smiling and joking, happy with life

because they're catching more fish, it's fantastic.

I'm only a fisherman from Cornwall

to come out and make a programme and actually make a difference,

its very humbling, really...

it's surreal.

Next time, when London binman Wilbur Ramirez

swapped his truck for a handcart in Jakarta.

The sun here is boiling.

He found a city, drowning in its own waste.

And formed a deep friendship with his host, Imam Syaffi.

Now, he's going back on a mission to help his friend.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd