{"id":40094018,"date":"2023-11-09T18:07:31","date_gmt":"2023-11-09T18:07:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chinadialogueocean.net\/?p=94018"},"modified":"2024-01-02T16:03:43","modified_gmt":"2024-01-02T16:03:43","slug":"overfishing-off-west-africa-hits-livelihoods-fuelling-emigration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/ocean\/overfishing-off-west-africa-hits-livelihoods-fuelling-emigration\/","title":{"rendered":"Overfishing off West Africa hits livelihoods, fuelling emigration"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">Fish are crucial to nutrition and livelihoods in West Africa, with an estimated 5.5 million tonnes <a href=\"https:\/\/www.seaaroundus.org\/data\/#\/lme\/27?chart=catch-chart&amp;dimension=taxon&amp;measure=tonnage&amp;limit=10\">caught<\/a> in the region\u2019s waters in 2019. Nearly 7 million people in West Africa directly depend on fish activities for food or employment, a 2015 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/abs\/pii\/S0964569115001039\">study<\/a> found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But a number of factors are depleting fish stocks, causing economic hardship and thus fuelling irregular migration to Europe. These include an influx of foreign trawlers in the region\u2019s waters, lopsided fisheries agreements with foreign governments, weak laws and poor law enforcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<a class=\"wp-block-cd-related-news alignright block--related-news loading\" data-post-id=\"40093311\"><div class=\"block--related-news__image\"><\/div><div class=\"block--related-news__content\"><span class=\"block--related-news__heading\">Recommended<\/span><span class=\"block--related-news__title\"><\/span><\/div><\/a>\n\n\n\n<p>Experts say these issues can be overcome. They believe West African countries should: work together as a bloc to ensure it can strike fairer fisheries deals; invest in monitoring and surveillance to deter illegal fishing; and implement policies that better protect the marine ecosystem on which fish stocks depend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-what-is-happening\">What is happening?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Between 2017 and 2023, more than <a href=\"https:\/\/dtm.iom.int\/sites\/g\/files\/tmzbdl1461\/files\/reports\/ENG%20-%20IOM%20-%20Mediterranean%20Developments%20-%20Flows%20from%20WCA%20-%20March%202023_0.pdf?iframe=true\">900,000<\/a> migrants arrived irregularly in Europe by sea and land through Italy, Spain, Greece, Malta and Cyprus, according to the UN\u2019s International Organization for Migration (IOM). An estimated 26% of these came from West and Central Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The journey is treacherous. Many who set out do not make it to Europe and are forced to return home. Others perish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Between January and March this year, 532 people went missing as they attempted to cross the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea, the IOM report notes, with disappearances mainly linked to drowning, dehydration or hypothermia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2021, Nuha Njie tried to leave Gunjur, a coastal town in The Gambia, on a fishing boat bound for Morocco, from where he hoped to get to Europe. He is now back in Gunjur selling fish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBefore my unsuccessful journey, I requested for rental shop near the landing site to sell fish,\u201d he tells China Dialogue. \u201cI struggled to get one.\u201d Njie explains that such a facility would have created job opportunities for other youths, as shop assistants or suppliers of fish. Njie adds: \u201cI am not aware of any government loans or assistance to access fishing tools such as boats, which would have encouraged us to stay here and work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Problems persist. Industrial trawlers will sometimes damage or destroy the fishing nets placed in the waters by local fishers, Njie explains. Though often accidental, this damage \u201caffects the catches and subsequently, the market always runs out of [fish] stocks.\u201d Often, this also leads to clashes between artisanal fishers and industrial trawlers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-cd-article-image aligncenter block--article-image block--article-image--article\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"><div class=\"block--article-image__column\"><div class=\"hide-expand block--article-image__image\"><img class=\"lazy\" data-src=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/20220704_Gambia-seaweed-blooms-fisher-mending-nets_MustaphaManneh_ChinaDialogueOcean.jpg\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/20220704_Gambia-seaweed-blooms-fisher-mending-nets_MustaphaManneh_ChinaDialogueOcean-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/20220704_Gambia-seaweed-blooms-fisher-mending-nets_MustaphaManneh_ChinaDialogueOcean-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/20220704_Gambia-seaweed-blooms-fisher-mending-nets_MustaphaManneh_ChinaDialogueOcean.jpg 2560w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 768px, (max-width: 1024px) 1024px, 2560px\" alt=\"man sitting on and mending fishing net\"\/><\/div><div class=\"block--article-image__content\"><div itemprop=\"caption\" class=\"block--article-image__caption\">Small-scale local fishers in West Africa often face competition from foreign industrial trawlers. This has led to mass migration amongst fishers searching for better economic prospects. (Image: Mustapha Manneh \/ China Dialogue Ocean)<\/div><\/div><\/div><meta itemprop=\"contentUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/20220704_Gambia-seaweed-blooms-fisher-mending-nets_MustaphaManneh_ChinaDialogueOcean.jpg\"\/><meta itemprop=\"contentSize\" content=\"2 MB\"\/><meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"1707\"\/><meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"2560\"\/><meta itemprop=\"author\"\/><meta itemprop=\"representativeOfPage\" content=\"true\"\/><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Njie further accuses trawlers of violating regulations by fishing during a six-month \u201cclosed period\u201d in the winter established by the government to allow fish to breed. He explains that Chinese fishmeal factories, often supplied by Senegalese boats, do sometimes operate during this period. \u201cIt is unfortunate that The Gambian government does not enforce the closed season as it should.\u201d &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Gambia\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/faolex.fao.org\/docs\/pdf\/gam177699.pdf\">Fisheries Regulations<\/a>, last updated in 2008, state that no trawlers can fish within 12 nautical miles of the coast. However, unlike Guinea Bissau\u2019s and Senegal\u2019s, they do not indicate what fine should be given for particular offences. Often, this translates to trawlers receiving minimal penalties, or even going scot-free by <a href=\"https:\/\/malagen.shorthandstories.com\/this-one-ill-share-with-my-minister\/index.html\">bribing<\/a> government officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite the regulations in Senegal, Siaka Fai, a fisher from Missira village, in the country\u2019s northern Fatick region, says fisheries agreements \u2013 and the industrial trawlers that come as a result \u2013 are compromising marine resources. \u201cOur government has signed these fishing agreements and issued licences to other trawlers to operate on our waters\u2026 They have the bigger capacity, and we even compete with them around the areas we can access,\u201d Fai notes. \u201cAs a result, small-scale fishers would [return] with very minimal catch, which is frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-why-are-people-leaving\">Why are people leaving?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Illegal fishing has led to the loss of more than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.icsf.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/4319_art_Sam77_e_art06.pdf\">300,000<\/a> artisanal \u2013 or traditional \u2013 fishing jobs in West Africa, according to the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF). As a result, these people are forced to find work in another sector or to look abroad for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated conditions driving irregular migration. A UN <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.wfp.org\/api\/documents\/WFP-0000136106\/download\/?_ga=2.220052191.77155685.1697714424-2132357886.1697714424\">report<\/a> on extreme poverty in West Africa, published in January 2022, revealed that \u201cnearly 25 million people are unable to meet their basic food needs, which is 34% higher than in 2020.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is historical precedent for this. In 2005 and 2006, fish stocks in Senegal collapsed, and close to<a href=\"https:\/\/globalinitiative.net\/analysis\/illicit-migration-to-europe-consequences-of-illegal-fishing-and-overfishing-in-west-africa\/#:~:text=When%20local%20fish%20stocks%20collapsed,to%20more%20than%2031%2C000%20migrants\"> <\/a>36,000 West Africans \u2013 mostly from Senegal and Mauritania \u2013 fled to the Canary Islands in an attempt to enter Europe, according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/globalinitiative.net\/analysis\/illicit-migration-to-europe-consequences-of-illegal-fishing-and-overfishing-in-west-africa\/#:~:text=When%20local%20fish%20stocks%20collapsed,to%20more%20than%2031%2C000%20migrants\">report<\/a> by the Global Initiative against Transnational Organised Crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many of the irregular migrants from The Gambia and Senegal that China Dialogue spoke to \u2013 and their families \u2013 say that seeking greener pastures in Europe is their main motivation for leaving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Like Njie, Wuyeh Sanyang left Gunjur in 2021, on a boat believed to be carrying more than 100 young Gambians, according to his family. He has not been heard from since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBefore he left, he kept talking about the hardship the family is going through,\u201d his mother Sariba Ceesay, 68, says of her son\u2019s motivations. \u201cAll I do is pray for us to reunite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe saddest thing for me is I have no knowledge of whether he is alive or dead.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-bad-deals-for-west-african-nations\">Bad deals for West African nations<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The fisheries sector has provided hope to Gambians over the years, especially to youths looking for work. But this hope has faded recently as regional governments signed new fishing agreements with industrial fishing operators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nine of out of ten fishing vessels legally operating in Gambian waters are foreign-owned, according to the Ministry of Fisheries and Water Resources\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mofwr.gm\/key-fact-about-fisheries-in-the-gambia\">website<\/a>. There are currently five facilities for turning fish into fishmeal and fish oil that are licensed to operate in the small country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In October 2018, The Gambia <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mofwr.gm\/news\/eu-signs-sustainable-fishing-partnership-agreement\">signed<\/a> a six-year fisheries agreement with the European Union (EU) giving the bloc\u2019s vessels the right to catch up to 3,300 tonnes of tuna and 750 tonnes of hake per year in Gambian waters. The EU paid 550,000 euros per year for the privilege.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-cd-article-image aligncenter block--article-image block--article-image--article\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"><div class=\"block--article-image__column\"><div class=\"hide-expand block--article-image__image\"><img class=\"lazy\" data-src=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Tanji-fish-landing-site-in-the-Gambia_Credit_Regina_Lam-scaled.jpg\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Tanji-fish-landing-site-in-the-Gambia_Credit_Regina_Lam-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Tanji-fish-landing-site-in-the-Gambia_Credit_Regina_Lam-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Tanji-fish-landing-site-in-the-Gambia_Credit_Regina_Lam-scaled.jpg 2560w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 768px, (max-width: 1024px) 1024px, 2560px\" alt=\"people throwing ice onto large display of fish\"\/><\/div><div class=\"block--article-image__content\"><div itemprop=\"caption\" class=\"block--article-image__caption\">Workers throw ice on fresh catch at the Tanji fish landing site off the coast of The Gambia (Image: Regina Lam)<\/div><\/div><\/div><meta itemprop=\"contentUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Tanji-fish-landing-site-in-the-Gambia_Credit_Regina_Lam-scaled.jpg\"\/><meta itemprop=\"contentSize\" content=\"706 KB\"\/><meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"1707\"\/><meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"2560\"\/><meta itemprop=\"author\"\/><meta itemprop=\"representativeOfPage\" content=\"true\"\/><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Speaking to local press in 2019, environmental scientist Abdoukarim Sanneh <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chronicle.gm\/gambias-fish-for-eus-money-2\/\">said<\/a> that even though the EU\u2019s agreement with The Gambia also covers cooperation to fight illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, it still amounted to \u201ctrade injustice\u201d. The agreement and fishing licences pose a major threat to local, artisanal fishers, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is a similar story in Senegal, where fisheries contribute to more than 3% of GDP, according to a Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fao.org\/in-action\/coastal-fisheries-initiative\/activities\/west-africa\/senegal\/en\/\">report<\/a>. Most beneficiaries are artisanal fishers and processors, with 53,000 direct jobs, and over half a million that are reliant on fisheries. The report notes that overfishing, pollution and climate change pose the biggest threats to the sector\u2019s job market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The fisheries industry accounts for 10.2% of Senegal\u2019s exports, and generated US$400 million in revenue in 2021, found a <a href=\"https:\/\/apps.fas.usda.gov\/newgainapi\/api\/Report\/DownloadReportByFileName?fileName=Fisheries%20and%20Aquaculture%20in%20Senegal_Dakar_Senegal_SG2022-0015.pdf\">report<\/a> jointly published by the US Department of Agriculture and the Global Agricultural Information Network in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yet, like The Gambia, Senegal also has a fisheries <a href=\"https:\/\/ec.europa.eu\/newsroom\/mare\/items\/19285\/#:~:text=Following%20an%20eight%20year%20hiatus%20the%20EU%20and,return%20for%20a%20%E2%82%AC8.69m%20payment%20by%20the%20EU.\">agreement<\/a> with the EU, signed in 2014, which allowed up to 38 EU boats to fish in Senegalese waters in return for a 8.69 million euro payment by the EU. The main agreement expired in 2019, but Senegal and the EU have since <a href=\"https:\/\/www.europarl.europa.eu\/doceo\/document\/TA-9-2020-0295_EN.html\">extended<\/a> it with a new protocol. Other foreign-owned industrial <a href=\"https:\/\/www.seafoodsource.com\/news\/supply-trade\/senegalese-fishing-associations-flag-arrival-of-suspected-chinese-trawler-fleet\">trawlers<\/a> also fish on Senegal\u2019s waters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-double-whammy-no-fish-and-no-dollars\">\u2018Double whammy \u2013 no fish and no dollars!\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In a 2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/abs\/pii\/S0964569119301620?via%3Dihub\">paper<\/a>, researchers analysed the EU\u2019s so-called sustainable fishing agreements and identified the damage the deals are causing to West African nations. Its authors followed up with an <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/eu-targets-fragile-west-african-fish-stocks-despite-protection-laws-125679\">article<\/a> noting that other countries, including China and Russia, are also part of the picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-cd-pull-quote block--pull-quote\"><div class=\"block--pull-quote__wrapper\"><blockquote class=\"block--pull-quote__quote\">These patterns of exploitation exacerbate socio-economic inequalities, driving many people to despair and emigration<\/blockquote><cite class=\"block--pull-quote__cite\">Aliou Ba, interim senior oceans campaign manager for Greenpeace Africa<\/cite><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Rashid Sumaila, a professor at the University of British Columbia who writes on sustainable fishing, says that West Africa gets a raw deal in these agreements, as its countries receive payments amounting to a small fraction of what their marine resources are worth. \u201cThe fishing communities in West Africa lose their fish without seeing any of the fees collected,\u201d Suamila notes. \u201cThus, they end up with a double whammy \u2013 no fish and no dollars!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For Aliou Ba, interim senior oceans campaign manager for Greenpeace Africa, the main threat to the ocean and communities in West Africa is the unsustainable exploitation of marine and terrestrial resources, often facilitated by unfair agreements, neo-colonial practices and IUU fishing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThese patterns of exploitation exacerbate socio-economic inequalities, driving many people to despair and emigration,\u201d Ba says. \u201cAnd Europe\u2019s [border policies] make this situation terribly dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>West African nations lose an estimated $9.4 billion per year due to IUU fishing, according to a 2022 <a href=\"https:\/\/financialtransparency.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/FTC-fishy-Network-OCT-2022-Final.pdf\">report<\/a> by the Financial Transparency Coalition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-what-are-the-solutions\">What are the solutions?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Ba highlights that \u201ctoo many\u201d young Africans have disappeared while emigrating in search of better lives. It is \u201chigh time for national authorities to invest in monitoring and surveillance of the oceans, and develop sustainable development policies capable of creating hope and lasting jobs,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To incentivise businesses in the sector to spur local employment, \u201cfisheries need massive investment, including subsidies to help local fishers with boats and storage facilities,\u201d says Gambian migration specialist Bubacarr Singhateh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He adds there is a need for policies that protect the marine ecosystem through sustainable fishing and guarantee that perpetrators of fisheries crimes \u2013 such as fishing within a protected area and the illegal use of large nets \u2013 pay damages, to ensure proper restitution for those affected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>West African governments have begun to develop robust fisheries policies intended to ensure a future for local fishers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Gambia\u2019s most recent fisheries and aquaculture <a href=\"https:\/\/faolex.fao.org\/docs\/pdf\/gam199828.pdf\">policy<\/a>, published in 2018, sets as a major objective the sustainable development and management of industrial fisheries with the \u201cfull participation\u201d of Gambians. It also seeks to develop Gambians\u2019 capacities so they fill at least 30% of all skilled labour positions onboard fishing vessels, and to create jobs from \u201conshore value-addition activities\u201d, which includes fish smoking and other kinds of processing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Senegal, too, has various progressive policies, including its recent Agreement on Port State Measures, facilitated by FAO, which is the first binding international <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fao.org\/port-state-measures\/news-events\/detail\/en\/c\/1641217\/\">agreement<\/a> to specifically target IUU fishing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<a class=\"wp-block-cd-related-news alignright block--related-news loading\" data-post-id=\"40093399\"><div class=\"block--related-news__image\"><\/div><div class=\"block--related-news__content\"><span class=\"block--related-news__heading\">Recommended<\/span><span class=\"block--related-news__title\"><\/span><\/div><\/a>\n\n\n\n<p>However, for these policies to be truly successful, governments must stop signing agreements that threaten to jeopardise fish stocks in the region, such as the EU deal, which contributes to overfishing and overexploitation of local fish species. They must also clamp down on Chinese trawlers operating in The Gambia, Senegal, and Guinea Bissau, which currently do so to an extent that <a href=\"https:\/\/ejfoundation.org\/resources\/downloads\/The-Ever-Widening-Net-2022-final.pdf\">compromises<\/a> sustainable fishing principles.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This year, an Amnesty International <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/documents\/afr27\/6644\/2023\/en\/\">report<\/a> detailed the devastating impact of overfishing on Sanyang, a coastal village in The Gambia, in which it identified foreign-owned industrial trawlers and fishmeal factories as particularly damaging in how they dissolve local livelihoods, create food insecurity and perpetrate human rights abuses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/latest\/news\/2023\/05\/the-gambia-devastating-impact-of-overfishing-on-local-communities\/\">article<\/a> accompanying the report, Samira Daoud, Amnesty\u2019s regional director for West and Central Africa, said: \u201cThe Gambian authorities must urgently take all necessary steps to hold them to account and protect the human rights of affected communities, including their economic and social rights.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When West African nations <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iied.org\/sites\/default\/files\/pdfs\/migrate\/16647IIED.pdf\">enter<\/a> into fishing deals with other countries, Sumaila suggests that, in order to ensure they are fair, \u201cthey need to work collaboratively as a unit, just like the Pacific Island <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefing-room\/statements-releases\/2022\/09\/29\/declaration-on-u-s-pacific-partnership\/#:~:text=We%20will%20continue%20to%20cooperate%20on%20fisheries-related%20economic,fishing%E2%80%94a%20threat%20to%20the%20Pacific%20environment%20and%20livelihoods.\">States<\/a> do. This will increase the region\u2019s bargaining power, making it receive a fair share of the value of resources.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thousands of people are leaving the region as illegal fishing and lopsided international fisheries deals hit fish stocks and obliterate jobs<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3987,"featured_media":40094021,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[50039901],"tags":[50040318,50040749,40027748],"hashtags":[],"country":[50041238,50041235],"class_list":["post-40094018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ocean","tag-fish","tag-livelihoods","tag-overfishing","country-gambia","country-senegal"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v26.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ 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