Photo essay: Southeast Asia's overfishing crisis — and the effort to uncover its roots

May 3, 2026, 7:02 AM EDTA photo exhibition offering a rare look into industrial fishing in Southeast Asia — and its impact on fragile marine ecosystems — was on display at a New York gallery last month. The nine-month investigation by freelance photojournalist Nicole Tung, titled “Overfishing in Southeast Asia,” spans Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia. The work was recently displayed at the Bronx Documentary Center, a nonprofit gallery and educational space.More than a dozen images capture Filipino fishermen at sea, threatened species including sharks and wedgefish, and hundreds of commercial fishing vessels docked in Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta. Filipino fishermen returning from about a month at sea unloaded catches of yellowfin tuna, bigeye tuna and blue marlin last May at the General Santos fish port, which is known as the Philippines’ tuna capital. Nicole TungWhile the United States enforces strict laws governing seafood imports tied to forced labor, Tung said more oversight is needed.“Buyers don’t always know where it’s coming from,” she said in an interview on “NBC News Daily.”03:51She added that women in the industry face growing uncertainty, often working on docks while their husbands are employed on commercial fishing vessels. If their husbands go missing, “there’s usually no