|
|
Sengalese fishermen mourn loss of species
By Olivier van Bogaert, WWF
Maïmouna is sitting in front of a dozen of kobos — or Bonga shad
(Ethmalosa fimbriata), a small coastal pelagic fish — that are drying under
the sun and attracting clouds of flies. These are the fish she could not sell
today. She'll wait a little longer — you never know, someone in the village
might still want a couple of them. If not, she'll salt or smoke the remaining
kobos for later sale. If she had been able to sell all her fish, like the other
vendors who were lucky enough to go home early today, she would have earned
2,500 CFA (about 4 Euros).
Every morning in Mar lodj, in Senegal's Saloum delta, some 200 kilometres
south of Dakar, these vendors, almost exclusively women, fetch the fish landed
by the fishermen and then display it on a mat in the middle of this Senegalese
hamlet, where tom-toms are still the only way to communicate with neighbouring
villages.
But if they don't sell all their fish, this does not mean that there is an
overabundance. On the contrary, fish has become rarer. And less noble.
"Before, we used to get barracudas and red carp, and fishers did not
catch kobos," says a villager. "Now we have to eat these kobos,
because most of the time there is nothing else."
Dr Papa Samba Diouf, Head of WWF's Marine Programme in West Africa, agrees.
"A few decades ago, the Saloum delta abounded in fish. And a recent report,
which compared 100 different estuaries taken at random in the world, concluded
that only six of them had more species than the Saloum delta.
"But Russian fleets massively exploited these stocks from the 1960s to
the early 1980s, which means that today the local fishermen, as well as the
foreign vessels that fish here, are drawing on already exhausted
resources." To add to an already serious situation, the Saloum fishermen
are considered some of the best in the country.
"It's a shame, the Saloum delta is biologically very rich, but because
of overfishing and increasing salinity, the fish have gone," deplores Papa
Samba Diouf.
The delta is part of the West African Marine Ecoregion, 3,500km of coast that
spans six countries: Mauritania, Senegal, The Gambia, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau,
and Guinea. These coasts vary from rocky cliffs, broad sand beaches, and
extensive sea grass prairies in the north to dense mangrove forests and well
developed estuaries in the south.
But it is the powerful coastal upwellings of cold, nutrient-rich waters from
deep in the ocean to the surface that make the ecoregion so important. These
nutrients provide the foundation for a tremendously productive food chain that
supports incredible biodiversity. Over 1,000 species of fish live here, along
with dolphins, whales, endangered marine turtles, the world's largest-remaining
colony of monk seals, and one of the most important coral reefs in the world. In
addition, over 6 million migrating birds feed in the rich coastal waters before
beginning their homeward trek to Europe in the northern hemisphere spring.
Fisheries along this coast generate some US$400 million annually, making them
the single most important source of foreign exchange and a key source of revenue
for economic and social development. In Senegal alone, the jobs of over 600,000
men and women depend directly on fishing and fisheries related industries. In
addition to domestic industrial and artisanal fishing fleets, many foreign
powers — in particular the EU, Japan, and China — have negotiated important
fisheries agreements that allow their boats to fish in the waters of these
countries.
On the beach of Joal, which neighbours Mar lodj, lack of fish and other
misfortunes are on everyone's lips. Here, the villagers blame European
industrial fishing boats.
"Every day after fishing, I have to repair my broken nets,"
complains Ousseynou Niang, captain of a pirogue, the canoe-like boat used by
most artisanal fishermen here. "Sometimes they are damaged by stones or
crabs, but most of the time they are cut by big vessels."
Thiogo Diene Seck is the wife of a fisherman. She participates actively in
her husband's activities, selling fish to local processing centres in order to
buy fishing gear for the pirogue her family depends on. She is both terrified by
and angry about the European vessels, which too often trespass at night into the
exclusive fishing zone (6 miles off the coast) of the artisanal fishermen.
"Not only do they steal our resources, but they might kill our men,"
she says, referring to the occasional but dramatic collisions between small
pirogues and big trawlers.
Further along the coast in M'Bour, one of the country's fishing hot spots,
it's very clear that women take an active role in Senegalese artisanal fishing
communities. Aminata Sarr, President of the Senegalese federation of women
working in fish processing, is roaming the local artisanal processing centre,
where fish are drying or being smoked.
These centres, which generally employ men but are run by women, are
increasing as a solution to the lack of proper freezing infrastructures in
Senegal. Although there are some factories that freeze fish for export to
western Europe, most exported fish is frozen on board the foreign fishing
fleets.
The artisanal processing centres provide a way to sell all the fish landed by
artisanal fishers that cannot be frozen immediately, both in Senegal and in
neighbouring countries. "I've worked in this sector all my life," says
Aminata Sarr. "Artisanal fishermen are our partners, but because of pirate
vessels, both Senegalese and Europeans, we have less and less resources and
work."
However, the problem of overfishing in Senegalese waters cannot be blamed on
industrial trawlers only. With about 80 per cent of all landed fish, artisanal
fishing is taking the lion's share of local fish stocks. If you add the
recurrent drought that impoverishes inland areas, driving more and more people
to the coast, and the lack of regulations that allows anyone to become a
fisherman without having to pay for a license, then you'll have the complete
picture, and understand why the pressure on some fish stocks is already too
high.
"It's vital that this situation is known by all stakeholders in the
fishing sector," stresses Papa Samba Diouf. This is why WWF has paid
particular attention to organize workshops where authorities, scientists,
industrial and artisanal fisheries' representatives, and NGOs can sit together
and exchange their views in a participatory way. Thanks to this approach, active
dialogue has been established between all these key actors. "One of our
main goals is to ensure that artisanal fishing becomes sustainable," adds
Dr Diouf.
To achieve this WWF is working very closely with the fishing community of
Kayar, some 60km north of Dakar. There, with WWF's help, fishermen are already
on the road towards sustainability. They are well organized, have set up
committees for each type of fishing activity, reduced the daily operations, and
limited the allowable catches. Pressure on resources has been stabilized. WWF
aims to use Kayar as a model that could be imitated in other fishing centres in
West Africa.
"It's another reason why it's imperative that the fishing agreements
with the EU better take into account our local fishermen's needs,"
concludes Papa Samba Diouf. "For example, foreign fleets should not catch
fish that is also targeted by Senegalese vessels. If their interests are not
protected, how can local fishermen understand why they must improve their
practices?"
More information:
* Olivier van Bogaert is Press Officer at WWF International, Gland,
Switzerland.
Reproduced with permission from WWF. © 2002 WWF-- World Wide Fund For
Nature. (Formerly World Wildlife Fund). All rights reserved
The Western
African Marine Ecoregion (WAMER)
|
