It starts with Acacia and ends with Yi Feng 16.
In May this year, Senegal’s newly appointed minister for fisheries, Fatou Diouf, released a list of vessels authorised to fish in the West African country’s waters.
On the surface this may seem a modest move, but transparency advocates who have long been demanding such a list say it is a huge win, which could catalyse reform of how fishing is managed along Senegal’s extensive coast and across the region.
“It has been a long journey, and we’re pleased about the new Senegalese government’s decision to publish the registry of licensed fishing vessels,” says Awa Traore, an international climate consultant and former Greenpeace ocean campaigner. “It’s a great leap forward for transparency in the country’s fisheries sector and the regional fisheries management.”
Campaigners such as Traore say a lack of transparency creates a vacuum in which negative aspects of the fisheries sector can flourish: overfishing; illegal, unreported and unregulated activity; misuse of subsidies; corruption. For the region to properly manage its marine resources, the sector must be less opaque, they believe.
While there have been nods to the need for change, who is catching what is still not public in many countries.
Senegal shows its hand
President Dimaye Faye, who took office in Senegal in April and appointed Diouf, has campaigned for total transparency in government. The list of 132 vessels registered in Senegal and authorised to fish in the country is an early move from his administration. Another list released alongside it details 17 boats and two support vessels registered in France and Spain and authorised to work in Senegal’s waters.
“This act responds to the principle of transparency in managing natural resources that constitute a national heritage,” said the government in a statement.
The majority of Senegal’s 16.3 million people live near its coast, with fishing a significant employer. Senegal is a favourite spot for many boats targeting small pelagic fish, including bonga and sardinella. The industry supports some 600,000 people and is hugely important in fighting poverty in rural areas.
Fish play a crucial part in feeding local people, and in the local culture. The national dish is thieboudienne, a rice and fish creation inscribed on the UN cultural organisation Unesco’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list in 2021.
But the country’s resources have attracted trawlers from Asia and Europe. The expansion of fishing they brought coincided with the overexploitation of fish and climate change impacts. This has dealt huge blows to fisheries, and to those living in coastal communities.
Mor Mbengue is a renowned fisher and advocate for fisheries in Senegal. He tells Dialogue Earth the campaign for transparency is significant because there can only be useful conversations about resource management if the public knows who is actually fishing and benefiting from it. Now he wants the government to go further and reveal who owns the company behind each vessel registered under Senegal’s flag.
The African Confederation of Artisanal Fishing Organisations says many of the names of the 132 vessels registered in Senegal are of Chinese origin. Spanish, French and Korean names also dot the list.
“Local fishermen are very happy, but not very satisfied,” says Mor – which is why they are asking for this deeper audit of Senegal-registered vessels.
Shedding light on West Africa’s fleet
Some campaigners and local fishers hope Senegal’s move will encourage a broader, regional push for greater transparency from fisheries.
“The new government’s decision to publish the vessel register is commendable,” says Felix Conteh, who researches West African governance and policy from Lancaster University in the UK. “Not only does it deviate from the previous government’s reluctance to do so, it sets a baseline for us to hold them accountable.
“Whether or not other countries in the region will follow Senegal’s example is unclear, as much depends on their incentives and capacity issues.”
Conteh adds that Senegal’s move shows it is possible to take incremental steps towards transparency, rather than waiting to complete huge data-collection projects.
In 2016, Senegal became the first country to announce it would join the global Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI), which has produced a standard for transparency that nations can sign up to. But the initiative notes the government has not yet submitted an official application to become a candidate country, despite its public commitment to do so.
Transparency campaigners hope this historic release of fishing vessel registration details by Senegal is a step in the right direction. It may even encourage neighbouring The Gambia, which is also yet to sign up to FiTI, to follow suit.
“I commend the Senegalese government for their transparency in releasing the list of registered fishing vessels. This action establishes a positive example for regional cooperation and sustainable fisheries management,” says Muhammed Hydara, secretary general of the Gambia Environmental Alliance.
“For The Gambia, it emphasises the importance of similar transparency and compliance with our Fisheries Act 2007, promoting accountability and fostering collaboration to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing in our shared waters.”
For several years, Senegal and The Gambia have been operating under an agreement that allows vessels fishing under either flag to work in the other’s waters. This has led to Senegalese fishers dominating in The Gambia, while the expansion of fishmeal factories in the latter country also attracted trawlers from Senegal, which supply them.
This is a crucial step in preserving our marine resources and supporting the livelihoods that depend on themMuhammed Hydara, Gambia Environmental Alliance
One existing regional bright spot is Mauritania, which committed to join FiTI in 2016 and became a candidate country in 2018. This year, the initiative confirmed the country now has two vessel registers: one for foreign vessels and one for domestic. Mauritania lacks an online register that complies with all the group’s requirements, however, as well as public information on topics such as subsidies for fishing.
In April, shortly before Senegal published its list, a FiTI meeting showed progress was being made in candidate countries Cabo Verde, Mauritania, São Tomé and Príncipe, Madagascar and the Seychelles. The initiative is also pushing for change in Guinea-Bissau, Ghana and Senegal.
As this article was being readied for publication, Ghana announced its commitment to join. In a statement, Ghana’s fisheries minister Mavis Hawa Koomson said: “As Ghana has taken this step, I wish to encourage other countries of the West Central Gulf of Guinea to join FiTI to improve data availability and enhance regional collaboration, considering the shared nature of our marine fisheries resources.”
Implementing fisheries transparency in Western Africa requires political will and significant work. Senegal is seen as key by some campaigners: the country is a hub for fisheries in West Africa and has a powerful voice in regional affairs.
Hydara says he hopes The Gambia and other nations follow Mauritania and Senegal, and that more lists of boats will soon be public.
“We hope this step will encourage The Gambia Ministry of Fisheries to do the same by releasing the list of fishing vessels registered under the Gambian flag,” he says. “This is a crucial step in preserving our marine resources and supporting the livelihoods that depend on them.”
Update: On 14 August, FiTI announced that “with great regret … the FiTI must announce Senegal’s delisting from the Fisheries Transparency Initiative with immediate effect”. The group said the country’s new government had taken “encouraging steps”, and cited the vessel list, but had failed to take mandatory steps to start implementing FiTI transparency standards.
