Is China’s fishing fleet taking all of West Africa’s fish?
Fishing is one of the great natural resources of West Africa.
For communities along the Atlantic coast, it is much more than an industry. Fish provides food, employment and income for thousands of families. Fishermen bring their catches ashore, women buy, smoke and sell the fish, markets depend on it and whole coastal communities have grown around it.
But there are growing concerns that this valuable resource is coming under enormous pressure.
A BBC investigation has been looking at illegal and unsustainable fishing off the coast of West Africa and, in particular, at the growing presence of large Chinese fishing vessels.
The question posed by the BBC is a deliberately stark one: is China’s fishing fleet taking all of West Africa’s fish?
The programme focuses particularly on Sierra Leone, but the issues it raises have very clear implications for The Gambia too.
Small Boats and Very Big Competition
Traditional fishing across West Africa is dominated by relatively small boats.
Anyone who has visited a Gambian fishing village such as Tanji will have seen the colourful wooden pirogues returning to shore, often surrounded by crowds waiting to buy the catch.
These fishermen are working on a completely different scale from large industrial trawlers.
When industrial vessels fish illegally in areas reserved for local fishermen, or when large fleets place too much pressure on fish stocks further offshore, the effects eventually reach the people fishing from those much smaller boats.
Fewer fish in the sea means smaller catches. Smaller catches mean higher prices. And higher prices affect not only fishermen but the families and communities who depend upon fish as an affordable source of food.
Why This Matters to The Gambia
The concern is especially relevant at the moment because The Gambia is already having its own debate about the way its fish stocks are being used.
Earlier this month, The Guardian reported on the impact of Chinese-owned fishmeal factories operating along the Gambian coast.
Factories at Gunjur, Kartong and Sanyang are buying large quantities of locally caught fish and turning them into fishmeal, much of which is destined for use in animal and fish farming overseas.
That has created a difficult argument.
The factories provide a market for fishermen and some local employment. For fishermen able to sell large catches directly to the factories, that can bring short-term financial benefits.
But there is another side to the story.
Small fish such as sardinella are also an important and relatively inexpensive source of food for Gambian families. When large quantities are diverted into fishmeal production, local buyers and fish sellers can find themselves competing with factories for the same catch.
The Guardian reported concerns that fish were becoming more expensive and that declining stocks were putting increasing pressure on local communities.
There have also been serious environmental concerns surrounding waste from some of the factories.
This is therefore not simply a question about foreign fishing boats operating somewhere far out in the Atlantic.
It is a question about who benefits from West Africa’s fish — and whether the resource is being used in a way which can continue in the long term.
The issue is particularly relevant to The Gambia, where concerns about industrial fishing and fishmeal production have also affected coastal communities.
A Shared West African Problem
Fish, of course, do not recognise national borders.
Stocks move along the West African coastline through the waters of several countries. That means overfishing in one area can have consequences elsewhere.
The BBC investigation in Sierra Leone therefore deserves attention in The Gambia as well. Both countries depend heavily upon coastal fishing communities, and both face the difficult challenge of protecting local livelihoods while also managing valuable marine resources.
Industrial fishing itself is not automatically the problem.
The real issues are whether fishing is properly regulated, whether vessels obey the law, whether catches are sustainable and whether enough fish remains available for the communities which have traditionally depended upon them.
Illegal fishing makes all of those problems considerably worse.
Monitoring thousands of square miles of ocean is difficult for any country. For relatively small West African nations with limited resources, policing territorial waters against large industrial vessels presents an even greater challenge.
More Than an Environmental Issue
It is easy to describe overfishing simply as an environmental problem, but in countries such as The Gambia it is also an economic and social one.
- the fishermen whose income depends upon their daily catch;
- women who buy, smoke and sell fish;
- families relying on fish as an affordable source of protein;
- restaurants, markets and other local businesses;
- coastal tourism;
- and ultimately the long-term food security of the country.
That is why the BBC investigation is well worth watching.
It provides a striking look at what happens when small-scale fishermen find themselves competing for the same resource as a much larger industrial fishing industry.
And although the film concentrates on Sierra Leone, it is difficult to watch it without thinking about what is currently happening further north along the same West African coastline in The Gambia.
Watch and Read More
BBC News – Is China’s fishing fleet taking all of West Africa’s fish?
The BBC investigation by correspondent Paul Adams and video journalist Charlotte Pamment looks at illegal and unsustainable fishing off the coast of West Africa.
BBC photo gallery – Fishing in Sierra Leone
A photographic look at the people and communities who depend upon fishing in Sierra Leone.
The Guardian – Chinese fishmeal plants leave fishermen in The Gambia all at sea
Published on 20 March 2019, this detailed report looks specifically at the effects of fishmeal production on Gambian fishermen, fish sellers, local communities and the environment.
The stories may focus on different places, but they are all asking essentially the same question:
Can West Africa protect one of its most important natural resources before too much of it disappears?
