Every bottom-trawling fishing boat off the coast of British Columbia has an independent observer on board. The observers monitor the catch and protect against overfishing and environmental harm.

But when they do that, they're the only person on the boat with the power to report the captain and crew and cost them fines or perhaps their jobs. And many of them say they've been pressured to ignore violations, to the point where some have felt unsafe and have overlooked things they knew were going wrong.

This is the story of the investigation that turned up an ugly practice happening way out at sea...

GUEST: Jimmy Thomson, The Narwhal

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