The Issue

Dishing up African fish in Europe
Europe’s demand for seafood outstrips supply in its own waters. To meet demand, the EU and Russia in particular have increasingly looked for fishing opportunities in foreign waters.

The Northwest African coast has long been popular, with European fleets fishing in the area since the 1960s. Since 1979, the EU alone has paid millions of Euros to various countries for the right to fish in their waters. Most of these fishing access agreements (now called Fisheries Partnership Agreements) are in Africa, with the largest in the waters of Mauritania, Senegal, and Guinea-Bissau. In 1999, such agreements provided around 25% of all fish consumed in the EU and in 2001, 11% of all EU catches came from the Eastern Central Atlantic Ocean off the coast of West Africa.

Over the same time period, imports of seafood to the EU have increased.

Today the EU is the largest world market for imported seafood, with Africa the single-largest supplier. Such exports are extremely valuable for the countries concerned: Senegal’s seafood exports make up a third of the country’s export earnings, with 60% of these exports ending up in the EU.

But a series of studies have shown that both the fishing agreements and the increased trade dependence on Europe have been disastrous - both environmentally and socially.

Overfishing exported
The huge increase in the number of EU, Russian, and to a lesser extent Asian, boats along the Northwest African coast since the 1960s has driven a huge increase in fishing effort.

The EU fleet - which numbered nearly 800 boats in 2001 - has essentially been able to take whatever it can catch.

Most fishing agreements do not include maximum catch quotas or effort limits, and in any case, the African countries have a limited capacity, and sometimes limited will, to control the activities of foreign fleets. Under- and misreporting of catches is rife.

On top of this, EU subsidies have allowed EU vessels continue to fish in the region even after fish stocks became too depleted for fishing to be profitable.
A recent example is the 2006 fisheries partnership agreement between the EU and Mauritania. Worth some €108 million each year for 6 years, it is one of the most significant agreements ever in terms of fishing opportunities for the EU. The agreement allows around 200 EU vessels to fish various species in Mauritanian waters, including squid and octopus - yet there is already some 30% overfishing on these cephalopods.

Local fishers have also contributed to the overfishing, but often as a direct result of Europe’s demand: many have switched their attention from supplying the domestic market to supplying the export market.

Unsurprisingly, the region’s marine biomass has massively decreased, to just 25% of the 1950 level. The fish resources and ecosystems of Northwest Africa are now as depleted as those of the North Atlantic, and the fisheries are not sustainable.

Pirate fishing
Pirate fishing by foreign vessels, primarily for shrimp, is also a problem.

Guinea, for example, loses over 34,000 tonnes of seafood every year to pirate - 64% over and above the country’s legal, recorded catch.

The EU is a major market for the illegal catches, and EU companies are behind many of the pirate operations. In addition to contributing to overfishing, the pirate’s illegal bottom trawling activities often destroy vital fish habitats and nursery grounds.

Throwing away good food
Foreign fleets are only interested in high-value species - and do not hesitate to throw away what they don’t want.

The amount they throw away is huge.

The estimated discard rate for licensed fleets in Guinea, for example, is 25% for midwater fish trawlers, 27% for the octopus fishery, and 33% for the shrimp fishery.

The discard rate for pirate trawlers, most of which target shrimp for the European market, is likely to be much higher, since they use illegal nets with smaller mesh sizes, and fish illegally in shallow coastal waters that serve as nurseries for many fish species.

As most discarded fish do not survive, this is a massive amount of food lost for a country where over a quarter of the population is undernourished.

Less fish for the locals
Fish is a vital source of food in West African countries, supplying a major part of the population’s animal protein intake - 75% in the case of Senegal.

Clearly, the collapse of fish stocks here would be a humanitarian disaster.

By depleting marine resources, EU and other foreign fleets are already threatening food security in the region. Guinea, for example, already has a problem feeding its people. The country has a specific objective to improve food security by increasing the fish consumption of the population. But the main obstacle preventing this is IUU fishing, primarily shrimp trawling for European markets.

In Guinea-Bissau, the government requested that instead of throwing away locally consumed species caught as bycatch, EU fleets instead land the fish for local consumption. The EU rejected the request as to do so would take too much time.

In Senegal, depleted fish stocks caused by foreign fleets and foreign demand have had a serious impact on local food supplies. According to one Senegalese NGO, it now takes local fishermen a month to catch the same amount of fish that could once be caught in just four days.

The preference for high-value “noble” fish in European markets has reduced the quality of fish reaching domestic markets, with the markets furthest from the coast receiving less fish and of poorer quality.

Exports have also raised domestic fish prices. The country’s national dish of fish and rice, thiebou dienne, has become a luxury for many, and is now more often made with sardines than the once almost-universal grouper.

Social timebomb
Fishing provides more than just food to West Africans - it also provides livelihoods.

In Senegal, for example, the fishing industry directly and indirectly employs over 15% of the working population. The industry is especially important for women, who process and sell fish. If there are no fish, these women cannot make a living and so cannot afford to feed or educate their children.

As mentioned above, fishing also provides valuable export earnings to West African countries.

On top of this, the fees paid by the EU and other countries fishing access agreements represent considerable revenue. In the case of Mauritania and Guinea-Bissau, these fees account for an estimated 15% and 30%, respectively, of the national budget.

Clearly, the collapse of fish stocks in the region would be an economic and social disaster. But already, fishing for foreign markets has a high cost.

For example, the 34,000 tonnes of fish taken by pirates each year in Guinean waters is worth an estimated US$110 million - money the country, one of the world’s poorest, can ill afford to lose.

On top of this, the fees paid by the EU for fishing access agreements do not reflect the true value of the resources being taken by EU fleets.

In addition, local people are missing out.

Not only do the highly subsidized, technically advanced EU boats represent unfair competition with small-scale, local fishers, but the fishing agreements have in general ignored the interests of coastal communities, provided few jobs, and provided little support for research and development of local fishing sectors. And now local jobs are threatened by depleted fish stocks.

Say Yes to sustainable seafood

Take a stand against unsustainable fishing and pledge to buy MSC certified seafood

If you can't find seafood with the MSC label in your local store, please ask for them. Businesses do listen to their customers.

If they think there is enough demand for MSC certified seafood they will stock it.