The New Boats

We are deeply grateful to all of you who have supported The New Boats through GlobalGiving. Your generosity is helping us bring critical awareness to the impacts of industrial-scale fishing on Sierra Leone’s coastline and to our communities tat depend on the sea for survival. Because of your support, we are not only amplifying local voices but also strengthening national conversations around climate change, illegal fishing, and the fight to protect livelihoods. 

“We want this film to build a movement, inspiring communities to take ownership of the conversations and the issues that this film raises — issues of climate change, illegal fishing, forced migration, and the fight to protect livelihoods. We also want to empower the Fishermen’s Union in Sierra Leone with the tools and the skills to document illegal activities in our waters, setting up a mobile cinema unit in the union’s office for further screenings, community outreach, education, and campaign purposes.”
— Adenike Hamilton, Impact Producer

SUPPORT OUR CONTINUED WORK

Ten New Community Screenings

We have embarked on ten additional strategic screenings in hard-to-reach but vitally important western rural communities that rely almost entirely on fish as their main source of protein and income. These events have become essential gathering spaces for dialogue, reflection, and community-driven action.

Each screening is conducted in partnership with local Community Management Associations and facilitated in local languages to ensure every voice can be heard. Our audiences include fishmongers, traditional chiefs, religious leaders, civil society groups, district council chairpersons, Councillors, women, and children — the people most directly affected by illegal fishing and shifting climate conditions.

Open-mic sessions at the end of each screening give community members an opportunity to speak openly, share personal stories, express frustrations about daily challenges, and propose paths forward. These conversations are shaping a powerful grassroots movement.

Our Goals

• Raise awareness about harmful actions toward the climate and the growing crisis of illegal fishing
• Inspire and inform national dialogue on climate, food security, and maritime protection
• Empower the Fishermen’s Union with tools, skills, and platforms to advocate for policy change

Actions Underway

• Community screenings and facilitated discussions
• Media outreach to broaden public understanding and national accountability
• Hosting a Climate and Migration Film Summit to connect frontline voices with policymakers
• Establishing the Mobile Community Cinema, a new hub within the Fishermen’s Union office for ongoing outreach, documentation, education, and grassroots campaigns

As fisheries expert Stephen Akester, former advisor to Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources, warns:

“The resources are disappearing, fishermen are suffering, families are starving. Many have just one meal a day.”