FISHING

Artisanal fishing (or small-scale fishing) is still the predominant livelihood along Senegal’s coastline.

The FAO International Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries definition for small- scale and artisanal fisheries is:

“Small-scale and artisanal fisheries, encompassing all activities along the value chain – pre-harvest, harvest and post-harvest – undertaken by men and women, play an important role in food security and nutrition, poverty eradication, equitable development and sustainable resource utilisation. Small- scale fisheries contribute about half of global fish catches. When considering catches destined for direct human consumption, the share contributed by the subsector increases to two-thirds. Inland fisheries are particularly important in this respect. Small-scale fisheries employ more than 90 percent of the world’s fishers and fish workers, about half of whom are women. In addition to employment as full- or part-time fishers and fish workers, seasonal or occasional fishing and related activities provide vital supplements to the livelihoods of millions. Many small-scale fishers and fish workers are self-employed and engaged in directly providing food for their household and communities as well as working in commercial fishing, processing and marketing. Fishing and related activities often underpin the local economies in coastal, lakeshore and riparian communities and constitute an engine, generating multiplier effects in other sectors.”

Senegalese fisheries resources are abundant, and their exploitation generates high economic returns for local communities and satisfies local food security. Every day, Senegalese artisanal fishery relies on pirogues (Fontana and Weber 1982), in order to go fishing in the open ocean. The pirogues represent the major vessel for artisanal fisheries, fuel is the largest cost, and they have less access to technology than the industrial sector (Belhabib, Greer and Pauly 2017).

BOX 4: ARTISANAL FISHING

Pirogues for fishery ©ElenaGiacomelli

While Goal 14 of the 2030 Sustainable Develop- ment Goals calls on states ‘to conserve and sus- tainably use the oceans, seas and marine resourc- es for sustainable development’, and the initial 2020 negotiations of World Trade Organisation (WTO) to end harmful fisheries subsidies, Sen-

The crisis has been exacerbated by many factors.

The fishing industry is currently being devastated as fish migrate elsewhere as water currents are altering due to a combination of climate change and water pollution, which reduces marine bio- diversity (Allison, et al. 2009; Zickgraff, 2018). In this sense, environmental effects include impacts on marine ecosystems (Petrossian 2015) and the depletion and overexploitation of fish stocks be- yond legal limits (Liddick 2014; Petrossian 2015).

Inland fisheries have suffered from successive droughts in recent decades and changes in the hydrological regimes of major rivers (Blédé, Diouf, Compaoré, 2015). Additionally, Senegal’s open access regime to artisanal fisheries has contrib- uted to the depletion of marine resources and the increase of fish prices. Illegal, unregulated fishing as well as insufficient competitiveness, togeth- er with a weak system of governance, has led to losses in market shares and income (Daniels et al., 2016).

egal is not progressing (Koop and Aldred 2020) and is experiencing a dramatic devastation of the marine ecosystem, which is leading many people involved in the fishing industry with no means to make a livelihood out of it. As reported by Feu- geudjaay during his interview:

Current rates of extraction are driving several species towards extinction and jeopardising the livelihoods of artisanal fishing communities. The destruction of marine habitats is also related to the use of destructive fishing methods, including blast bombing and cyanide fishing and use of pro- hibited gear, further contributing to the problem of by-catch, the unintended capture of non-target species (Belhabib et al. 2013). Fishing is also be- ing devastated by pollution and poorly regulated waste management, as the previous section evi- denced.

Lastly, as reported by many interviewees, a major factor contributing to the destruction of the Sene- galese marine ecosystem is ocean grabbing: the overexploitation and depletion of fish stocks be- yond legal limits (Liddick 2014; Flothmann et al.

2010; Petrossian 2015) both by foreign industry (over)fishing and by illegal fishing (Tessnow-von, Belhabib and Le Billon 2021).

If the sea were full of fish; nobody would be interested in leaving because nobody wants to kill his own country”.

Feugeudjaay, Rufisque, Dakar

“

The foreign boats are industrial boats from coun- tries in the Global North, such as the EU, Russia and China (Kaczynski and Fluharty, 2002; Allison et al., 2009; Daniels et al., 2016; Okafor-Yarwood and Belhabib, 2020). Overfishing by large industri- al trawlers is contributing to the collapse of arti- sanal fishing – an activity that supports millions of people in coastal areas (see Box 4). Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing is also a ma- jor part of the problem in Senegal (Daniels et al., 2016).

The EU, which has recently adopted a new Pro- tocol to the 2014 fishing agreement with Sen- egal, has been strongly criticised²⁹ for its role in the depletion of West African fish stocks (Oka- forYarwood and Belhabib, 2020). Assessment of EU-Senegalese ‘cooperation’ has been found to be negative: from both an environmental and so- cial point of view: fish stocks are depleted and the Senegalese artisanal fishery is disrupted (Kaczyn- ski and Fluharty, 2002; Ayet Puigarnau, 2019; Oka- for-Yarwood & Belhabib, 2020; Philippe, 2019).

The sea is now poor with fish. The places where we can find fish are now under the control of the foreign boats. We are obliged to go very far in the sea in order to try to compete against them”.

Fisherman, Thiaroye Sur Mer, Dakar

“

Ocean grabbing is a controversial economic and geopolitical phenomenon that came to the fore in the early 21st century. It concerns the economic and social effects of practices of intense and large-scale exploitation of natural resources, especially fish, present in the oceans and seas, with particular reference to waters near MAPAs.

Often facilitated by politics, laws and bureaucracy, as well as by the market in the Global North, ocean grabbing influences access to marine resources and their control, taking it away from coastal communities and putting it in the hands of large companies and multinationals. This phenomenon removes not only an important economic means of livelihood but also an important source for local food security from fishermen and local communities. In many cases, this over-exploitation contributes to the destruction of the local marine ecosystem.

BOX 5: OCEAN GRABBING

29. For example from Green Peace: https://www.greenpeace.org/africa/en/press/12666/europe-wants-senegals-fish-but-re- jects-its-migrants/#:~:text=Since%202014%2C%20Senegal%20and%20the,of%20exploitation%20of%20the%20resources

Our problem now is that the sea has lost all its fish stock. The reason is that the sea has been sold. This explains why the men have been taking to boats to migrate to Europe.

That is the only option they have since the sea is completely destroyed”.

Ndaye, Rufisque, Dakar

“

The European Union has signed a series of fisheries partnership agreements and protocols with non- EU countries, which provide for EU financial and technical support in exchange for fishing rights for surplus stocks in the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The first ever EU bilateral fisheries agreement was signed with Senegal in 1979 giving EU vessels access to a wide range of fisheries resources. On 25 April 2014, the EU and Senegal concluded a new Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement and in 2019 it has been tacitly renewed for a 5-year period (Council Decision 2020/1786).

Under the Agreement, Union fishing vessels may only carry out their activities in Senegalese waters if they are in possession of a fishing authorization and, while cooperation on surveillance and combating illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing is undertaken by the Parties (art. 8), the Senegalese authorities keep the effective monitoring powers, and the Union shall take all the appropriate steps to ensure that its vessels comply with the provisions of the Agreement (art. 5). In art. 6 the Agreement provides for a financial contribution (estimated at EUR 15 253 750) granted by the Union to Senegal with the purpose of a) covering part of the costs of access by Union fishing vessels to Senegalese fishery resources; b) improve Senegal’s capacity to formulate and implement a sustainable fisheries policy through sectoral support. In order to keep monitoring the application of the Agreement, a Joint Committee – composed of representatives of both the Parties – has been established for controlling the implementation of the Agreement and settling potential disputes between the Parties (art. 7). It meets at least once a year, alternately in Senegal and in the EU.

Scientific cooperation is based on the work of a Joint Scientific Working Group (JSWG) established by the Joint Committee.

Details on the implementation of the Fisheries Partnership Agreement are included in a Protocol that covers a period of five years from the date on which the Agreement was signed, as stated in Article 16 thereof. The most recent protocol was adopted in 2019 and the Annexes contain further technical details and conditions governing fishing activities by EU vessels.

BOX 6: THE EU-SENEGAL FISHING AGREEMENT

Under the International Convention of the United Nations on the law of the sea, a coun- try that does not have a surplus, does not have the right to sign fishing agreements. [...]

They say that the European Union signs fisheries partnership agreements on Senegal’s surpluses, but Senegal does not have a surplus. [...]. We are a fishing country, we do not have enough resources, so these agreements are biassed from the start. The European Union, we know that it contributes a lot to the development of Senegal, but that is no reason for it to come and take our fishing resources, because there are many people who depend directly on these resources!

These agreements target tuna and hake - they are the most expensive fish in Europe and these agreements are especially dangerous, because within the framework of these agreements, there are what are called by-catch fisheries. [...] So that means that these boats can fish everything, they can take everything.

And often they do dangerous fishing which is forbidden in Europe, for example, bottom trawling is forbidden, and here in Senegal, trawlers fishing for hake, engage in bottom trawling and electric fishing and this is forbidden.”

Mustapha Dieng, Secretary General of the National Fishing Labour Union

“

During his interview in St. Louis, Mustapha Dieng, Secretary General of the National Fishing Labour Union, described the EU-Senegal agreement as unfair competition and stated that more control of the sea was needed for Senegalese artisanal fishermen.

This complex situation is leading some fishermen to feel they have no choice but to try to migrate.

Using the same pirogue used to fish, people try to cross the Atlantic Ocean and find better opportu- nities in Europe, as described in the subsequent section. It is important to remember here that this

The ideal would be not to substitute the existing fishing system with a Western capitalistic one, but to modernise and improve the existing one that, as explained above, provides a livelihood to many Senegalese men and women.

is a small minority of movements. Most are inter- nal. However, for the fishermen losing their liveli- hoods, the porous border of the sea is a pull. As a fisherman observed: “The fishermen follow the fish: if the fish go to Europe, then the fishermen go there too.”