The devastation of fishing resources in Senegal, caused by industrial overfishing and the lack of transparency in the management of the sector, is causing an increase in irregular migration to Europe through the deadliest route in the world —the Atlantic towards the Canary Islands—, denounced this Tuesday the British NGO Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF).
"Clandestine migration is a phenomenon with multiple causes; however, the growing involvement of fishermen in recent years shows the difficulties facing the fishing sector”, Bassirou Diarra, head of the EJF office in Dakar, who published a report on the matter, told Efe.
The EJF report documents a turn in the Senegalese fishing crisis, aggravated by illegal, unreported and unregulated practices, which are destroying the livelihoods of coastal communities.
"We have been seeing an overexploitation of demersal resources (marine species that live near the seabed) for 10 or 15 years. Now the most serious thing is that pelagics are also being depleted (those that are found near the surface or in mid-waters). These fish are very important for fishing communities, as they contribute to consumption, food security, markets, etc., and are also cheap," Diarra stressed.
The study denounces, for example, the use of destructive techniques such as bottom trawling, or that about half of the industrial vessels are controlled by foreign interests (mainly Chinese and Spanish).
These vessels frequently operate under the protection of opaque joint venture agreements.
The pressure on resources has drastically reduced local access to fish, which is essential for food security.
In this sense, national demand has followed a downward trend, falling from a historical average of 29 kilos per person to 17.8 kilos in 2021.
The shortage has also increased prices and hit female employment in the artisanal processing of fish. This has had a devastating impact on coastal communities and has contributed to the aggravation of poverty, making emigration an indispensable survival strategy for many families.
Meanwhile, the European Union is the largest destination for Senegalese fish exports in terms of value, with Spain at the head.
For this reason, Diarra recommends to local communities "participatory surveillance and the use of good fishing practices.”
"If there is no fish, all communities are affected," the expert recalled.
Similarly, he stressed that transparency must be a priority.
"Licenses, authorized vessels and research results must be public," said the EJF representative.
As the report indicates, based on data provided by various organizations, 63,970 people arrived in Spain irregularly in 2024, twice as many as in 2022.
The majority (46,843) did so by sea through the Canary Islands, an increase of 200% in just two years.
This route, which can exceed 2,000 kilometers of navigation in the open sea, has become the deadliest in the world: in 2023 alone, according to the report, an estimated 3,176 people died trying to cross from Senegal.