Bram Logger

TIRANA / MILANO – This cross-border investigative project focuses on researching the abuses and irregularities caused by the privatisation of immigration reception and detention centres in several countries.

IJMUIDEN/ FRASERBURGH/ DUNVEGAN/ HVIDE SANDE – The European fishing industry is becoming increasingly reliant on migrant labour from outside the EU. However, due to the difficulty of regulating international waters, as well as a lack of knowledge and oversight regarding labour laws, these migrant workers are vulnerable to exploitation.

IJMUIDEN - After pulse fishing was banned by the European Parliament in 2018, many Dutch fishermen switched to flyshooting. However, flyshoot fishing mainly targets species for which there is too little data to manage stocks properly. These are not subject to quotas and fishermen can take them out of the sea without limit. And that is a recipe for overfishing.

ROTTERDAM - The Netherlands is a hub for Russian whitefish such as cod, and thus indirectly facilitates Russia's war chest. Millions of kilos of Russian fish arrive in the port of Velsen every year, but controls on illegal catches are seriously inadequate.

AMSTERDAM / ANTWERP / IMMINGHAM / LAGOS – International oil traders continue to dump toxic waste products into road fuels sold to African countries, polluting the environment, damaging engines and causing life-changing health problems for citizens, despite the efforts of the regulators and civil society.

ACCRA – Low-quality petrol and diesel are a major problem for air quality in West Africa. They contain toxic substances such as sulfur and the carcinogenic benzene. When they break down, cars emit even more toxic exhaust fumes over densely populated cities.

ESSEN/HOOGSTRATEN/PUTTE - Belgian real estate agents are seeing more and more Dutch people moving across the border, in a desperate attempt to find an affordable house in the border region. What does that do to life in a border region. Apache and OC Spit traveled from Essen across Hoogstraten to Putte and spoke with owners.

ZEELAND - To whom does the Dutch province of Zeeland belong? Partly to Belgians, who own up to a fifth of the agricultural land in the southernmost part of the province. The Dutch research collective Spit and the Belgian platform Apache went in search of the large landowners and answered the question: why are they active there?

A Dutch fishing giant is involved in a corruption affair and tax evasion scheme concerning fishing quotas in Namibia. The money trail goes via Poland and Iceland.