RUFISQUE – Ibrahima Mar first lost his livelihood then lost his son when the fish off Senegal’s coast began to disappear, rupturing a way of life that had sustained his family for generations.
Industrial and illegal fishing, among other factors, have contributed to a sharp decline in the region’s fish stock, robbing the west African nation of a traditional source of nutrition and income.
In recent years, fish have been “increasingly plundered”, said Mar, who lives in a fishing village in the Dakar suburb of Rufisque.
The 55-year-old fisherman, a member of the Lebou ethnicity, a traditional fishing people, spoke to AFP from one of Rufisque’s boat landings, explaining that the fish had been “taken from our path. So, there’s no hope left”.
Bottom trawlers and other industrial ships, generally flagged to Senegal but whose owners’ real nationalities are difficult to trace, send their catches abroad.
“If you dig a little deeper into the ultimate beneficial ownership” the boats are Spanish, Italian, French, Chinese and Turkish, among other nationalities, Bassirou Diarra, country manager for Senegal at the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), told AFP.
“Not only is there a shortage of fish for the Senegalese market, for food security, but the money that should come back in terms of currency for the national economy isn’t coming back,” he said.
Destructive and illegal practices meanwhile include “fishing in prohibited areas, nets that do not comply with regulations, MPA (marine protected area) rules that are not respected, and the abusive granting of licences”, Diarra said.
A 2025 EJF report suggests that 57% of fish populations exploited in Senegal are in a state of collapse.
Members of coastal fishing communities have become increasingly desperate, illegally immigrating in traditional wooden canoes called pirogues along the deadly Atlantic migration route to Europe.
That includes two of Mar’s sons, both fishermen.
After one succeeded, Mar received a call several years ago from his other son, in his late teens.
More than 82 000 people in Senegal work in fishing according to latest census information, comprising some two percent of the workforce in 2023.
A surge of artisanal fishermen has additionally contributed to fish population decline, as people flock to the profession which requires minimal training.
Estimates on pirogue numbers in Senegal vary but generally fall between 12 000 to 19 000.
Meanwhile, climate change is pushing west Africa’s small pelagic fish – smaller, often schooling species caught by artisanal fishers – to move northward, according to research.
– Nampa/AFP