Off West Africa, the sea is teeming with fish. Sardines, mackerel, groupers, which are basic ingredients of local cuisine, from Senegal to Cameroon. For how much longer ? Massively fished and immediately exported to neighboring countries or to the other side of the globe, these “small pelagics” are gradually disappearing from African stalls and from the plates of the most modest consumers. In Senegal, the price of flat sardinella has doubled between 2026 and 2022. Consumption is collapsing: in ten years the consumption of small fish per inhabitant has been halved.
In 2019, Greenpeace estimated that 500,000 tons of these small fish were caught off Senegal, Gambia and Mauritania to be processed into meals and oils. Four years later, the trend is far from reversing.
The World Africa was able to film in Senegal the effects of this intensive industrial fishing, widely practiced by large Asian, Turkish and Russian fleets in West African waters. A sometimes illegal overfishing that jeopardizes food security in West Africa.
Among the sources of this video:
Climate variability and food security in Africa: the case of small pelagics in West Africa
In the meshes of the net. Changing Markets Foundation.
The Small Pelagic Value Chain in Mauritania – Recent Changes and Impacts on Food Security.
Contribute
The contribution area is reserved for subscribers.
Subscribe to access this discussion space and contribute to the discussion.