Off the coast of Sierra Leone, trawlers work waters that are supposed to be protected, part of an illegal fishing trade that Al Jazeera's People & Power values in the millions of dollars. This first installment of a two-part investigation follows the program's reporters as they track vessels and the networks behind them, gathering evidence before confronting the people running the operation directly. The film moves between the boats themselves and the coastal communities whose catch is disappearing, laying out how unregulated trawling strips local fishers of their livelihood while operators profit offshore. Rather than staying at the level of statistics, the crew puts names and faces to the trade, pressing suspects on camera with the documentation the investigation has assembled. The episode ends with the case still open, setting up the second part's reckoning with what, if anything, can be done to stop boats that answer to no single country's laws.