Their owners could face millions of dollars in fines.

The ships were seized by inspectors from Guinea, Sierra Leone and Guinea-Bissau.

They found them to be violating regulations on catching protected fish and using nets with small holes to facilitate bigger hauls.

With that equipment a Chinese ship can catch in a week what it takes local fisherman a year to haul in.

The arrests came after a two-month regional patrol on a Greenpeace ship, the Esperanza.

The Greenpeace ship carries local inspectors from West African countries often hamstrung by budget and technology constraints.

A recent study by Frontiers in Marine Science estimated West Africa’s annual losses from illegal and unregulated fishing at $2,3 billion.

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