In a recent study conducted by ActionAid it is stated that overfishing linked to food crisis, while local fishing industries decline. Moreover, the economic partnership agreements in their currently proposed form only exacerbate this problem. The study told that the overfishing of West African coastal waters, often by large European trawlers and sometimes by ‘‘fishing pirates’’ who trawl without any authorisation, has largely depleted local fish stocks.
Moussa Demba Dembele, a Senegalese economist, informed that the largest numbers of unemployed fishers ever are trying to immigrate to Europe, using their small fishing boats and pirogues, which lead to a number of people dying on the high seas. The report of ActionAid indicates that one in six of the working population is in the fishing industry and that fishing generates over 600,000 direct and indirect jobs.
According to ActionAid, Senegal’s catch volumes have fallen from 95,000 tons to 45,000 tons between 1994 and 2005. It also said that the European fishery operators present in Senegalese waters contribute significantly to the overexploitation of fishing stocks and provide little long term gains for the industry.
It is said that Senegalese fishers, like most of their West-African counterparts, fish from pirogues which do not allow them to go far out at sea, where large-haul trawlers operate. As a result there is depletion of stocks. This has led the Senegalese government to decline renewing its fishing agreements with the European Commission in 2006 in an attempt to limit access to its fish and protect its industry.
