Senegal fishing, Africa. Credit score: Pierre Laborde, Shutterstock
Overfishing by international fleets is crippling Senegal’s fishing trade and pushing hundreds of fishers to danger the lethal sea journey to Spain’s Canary Islands, in accordance with a damning new report launched at present, Could 13, 2025, by the Environmental Justice Basis (EJF).
The UK-based human rights and environmental NGO hyperlinks the collapse of Senegal’s fish shares to a pointy rise in irregular migration, notably to the Canary Islands.
Fishing is a cornerstone of Senegal’s economic system and meals provide. The west-African sector offers jobs for round 3 per cent of the workforce and delivers almost 8 per cent of the inhabitants’s complete protein consumption, but it’s now in disaster. In accordance with EJF, 57 per cent of Senegal’s fish shares are in a state of collapse, largely as a result of many years of overfishing. Many of the fish is exported to international markets, particularly Spain and China, leaving native communities with out their staple meals supply.
West-African communities devastated by overfishing
Round 45 per cent of all licensed industrial fishing boats in Senegal are managed by international pursuits, typically working beneath opaque joint ventures. Though many are registered beneath Senegalese flags, EJF discovered that many are, in follow, run by Spanish or Chinese language firms.
These fleets ceaselessly use backside trawling, a damaging technique that indiscriminately scoops up all the pieces on the seabed. This harm has led to drastic penalties: fish consumption in Senegal has plummeted from 29kg to simply 17.8kg per particular person, a steep decline in a rustic the place fish stays the primary supply of reasonably priced protein.
Senegalese households utilizing dangerous boat migration as a final resort
With native economies and diets collapsing, many Senegalese households have turned to boat migration as a survival technique. In 2024, a file 63,970 individuals entered Spain irregularly, with 46,843 arriving through the Canary Islands – a route deemed essentially the most harmful sea crossing on the planet. In accordance with Caminando Fronteras, at the very least 3,176 migrants died on this route in 2023 alone.
“If I used to be in a position to acquire sufficient cash in fishing, I might by no means have come to Europe,” mentioned Memedou Racine Seck, a former Senegalese fisher now in Tenerife.
Former fishers interviewed by EJF described the journey as a final resort. Many shared tales of sunken boats, destroyed fishing gear, and declining catches. In some tragic circumstances, boats have capsized or drifted for weeks with out meals or water, leading to mass casualties.
Resentment is rising in coastal cities. Native activists and fishers say international nations exploiting Senegal’s sources are partly accountable for the migration disaster they now protest.
“I get so offended when these nations complain about immigration, as a result of they’re the actual pirates,” mentioned Karim Sall, president of Senegalese marine conservation group AGIRE. “They arrive right here to steal our fish.”
EJF additionally documented a number of violations by international fleets, together with fishing in prohibited zones, utilizing unlawful nets, and tampering with satellite tv for pc monitoring. Senegal was issued a ‘yellow card’ warning by the EU in Could 2024 for failing to fight unlawful fishing, jeopardising its fish exports to Europe.
EJF requires reform
EJF and native fishers are urging each Senegal’s authorities and the EU to:
- Scale back industrial fishing licences
- Implement protections for artisanal fishers
- Enhance transparency in vessel possession and license agreements
“European authorities can and should finish this now,” mentioned Steve Trent, CEO of EJF. “Return Senegal’s fisheries to the individuals of Senegal.”
Regardless of some reform guarantees beneath new President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, many consider change will not be occurring quick sufficient to cease the rising dying toll at sea or to revive Senegal’s battered coast.
Learn the complete report by EJF.
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