DAR ES SALAAM, July 17 -- TANZANIAS fishing sector has long been the unsung hero of the national economy, despite feeding families, keeping kids in school and keeping coastal communities afloat. But while the waters might look calm on the surface, a silent struggle is churning in the deep.

It is not sharks or tsunamis causing trouble, it is something worse: foreign fleets, illegal operations and the slow erosion of local control. Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing might sound like the title of a bad Netflix documentary, but in Tanzania, it is a very real, very slippery problem.

According to the Tanzania Relief Initiative (TRI), foreign vessels, often disguised under local names are quietly pillaging Tanzanias Exclusive Ec...