Senegal
The human faces of an IUU disaster
“In Africa’s coastal waters, IUU fishing has reached epidemic proportions. This plunder destroys entire coastal communities when they lose the opportunities to catch, process and trade. Commercial trawlers that operate under flags of convenience, and unload in ports that do not record their catch, are engaging in organised theft disguised as commerce.”
The list seems endless. Dabu Samoura. Maimounu Ba. Mbayang Niang Diop …. Mothers and wives of Senegalese fishermen lost at sea. 85 fishermen lost in 2016; another 140 died in incidents at sea the following year and in 2018 more than 126 fathers, brothers, sons and husbands were mourned by those left behind on the beaches of Senegal.
Every year the list gets longer as more and more fishermen are forced to venture further out to sea in search of their daily catch. Ill-equipped vessels and substandard fishing gear, mostly unsuited for the open sea.
Why do reasonable men risk their lives at sea? The stark answer is often, “Absolute necessity.”
Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated. A chilling balance between today’s hunger and tomorrow’s fish stocks
Research conducted by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), a renowned London based independent think tank, provides some key insights. With the chilling title “Western Africa’s missing fish”, the research paper demonstrates how illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing lies at the heart of this humanitarian crisis.
IUU fishing is a global US$23 billion per year problem and with one fifth of the global catch originating from IUU, all consumers across the world are linked to this tragedy. None of us can plead ignorance.
Western Africa is the epicentre of IUU fishing and these coastal governments can no longer ignore the devastating threat posed by IUU to three key developmental areas:
traditional livelihoods of artisanal fishing men are slowly but surely destroyed;
a vital source of protein is eradicated; and
opportunities for regional production and trade are lost.
Competing with invisible, illegal, floating factories
Reefer vessels are effectively floating fishing factories: large scale commercial vessels able to receive and freeze fish at sea or in ports. Capable to stay out at sea for months at a time, these vessels play a key role in IUU fishing through the practice of transhipments – loading a catch directly from fishing vessels out at sea.
Senegal, like many other nations, prohibits transhipments within their Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) waters, but without sufficient tracking data it is impossible to control and enforce the law with their limited patrol vessels.
Trial in Senegal - 47 vessels fitted
With its proud history of fishing traditions and with a small-scale fishing fleet of up to 19,000 vessels (as in 2015) the impact of IUU is most visible in Senegal. Up to 600,000 Senegalese (Africa Progress Panel, 2014), many of them woman, are employed directly or indirectly in the fishing industry. It is estimated that Senegal lost US$300 million in 2012 alone due to IUU fishing – a significant monetary amount equivalent to 2% of their GDP.
The Senegalese government recognised that information is key in solving this crisis. Fisheries resource management is impossible without information on catch volumes and a solid understanding of fishing patterns. More importantly however, something urgently needed to be done to improve the safety of small-scale fishermen at sea.
Working closely with the DPSP (Department of Fisheries Protection and Surveillance in Senegal) an exactTrax™ trial was started in June 2018. Over the course of one year, 46 vessels participated in the trial. Long before the first vessel was fitted out with the tracking technology, all the other key elements for a successful trial deployment were put in place ranging from awareness and training workshops to establishing a strong relationship with an entrepreneurial minded local partner demonstrating an ethos for social impact.
The road ahead
The trial concluded in July 2019 with the DPSP satisfied that the technology will assist them in gaining the information required to improve their fishing resource management and to more effectively battle the threats of IUU fishing.
More importantly, it was demonstrated that the exactTrax™ satellite service, combined with the AngelFish, can drastically improve safety at sea for the small-scale fisher … and slowly but surely quiet the mothers and wives mourning those lost at sea.
