Senegalese Tuna Stocks Almost Disappearedff

In 1997, Senegal’s fishing canoes and foreign trawlers pulled 453,000 tons of fish from territorial waters, government figures show. By the end of 2001, the catch was down to 396,000 tons. Tuna stocks, deemed a benchmark of the sea's health, have almost disappeared, the World Wildlife Fund says.

Balanced above his sea canoe’s empty hold, Daouda Wade levels an accusatory finger at four blots on the horizon - factory-sized foreign vessels fishing in the Atlantic off West Africa. “Those big boats have caught everything,” the 33-year-old fishing captain says.

The European-flagged ships are working in Senegal's waters under a four-year, $75-million US contract between the European Union and Senegal's government, which says the agreement brings in a steady stream of sorely needed cash.
“And now there's nothing left for us, the Africans,” Wade says, his 25 sweat-streaked crewmembers squatting idly atop unused nets piled in the bottom of the canoe.

It’s a complaint increasingly heard: western boats that have left depleted fishing grounds in the North Atlantic now are depleting African waters, leaving little for the locals.
 
The European trawlers -multideck, steel ships many times the size of Wade's 30-metre canoe of brightly painted timber- can land single hauls of fish worth tens of thousands of dollars on Europe's docks.

These days, Senegalese fishermen say, they are earning less than a dollar a day - if they're lucky. In a 160-kilometre, 14-hour day, Wade's crew didn't catch a single fish.

Senegalese fishermen, whose practices are little modernized beyond outboard motors and synthetic-fiber nets, say the coastal catch they consider their birthright is disappearing into the trawlers’ refrigerated holds.

The World Wildlife Fund says a decrease in fish stocks off West Africa is linked to European vessels fishing legally, as well as Russian and Asian boats that slip in illegally.

The foreign-flagged vessels are "mainly responsible for overexploiting the fish resources, which ought to be providing food for Africa now and in the future," the fund said in a 2002 report.

But conservationists say Senegalese fishermen also bear blame, some for keeping small fry rather than throwing them back, others for using dynamite instead of nets and hooks.

“There's blame enough for everyone,” says Paul Siegel of the World Wildlife Fund in Senegal's capital, Dakar. “But one thing's for sure: There are too many fishermen chasing far too few fish.”

The European Union defends its fleet. It says the contract limits the catch of many fish species, installs observers on each boat and provides jobs for Senegalese. Under the four-year contract, extending a pact originally signed in the early 1980s, the EU pays nearly $20 million annually to Senegal, one of the world's poorest countries.
The pact requires that $3.6 million of Senegal's annual proceeds be spent on developing sustainable and responsible fishing methods in Senegalese waters.
“This will contribute to a considerable improvement in the management of the marine resources in Senegalese waters,” said Gregor Kreuzhuber, a spokesperson for the EU’s agriculture and fisheries commissioner.

Moustapha Thiam, a deputy director of Senegal’s Department of Fisheries, said “it’s so important for the government to have this money.”

Many people in Senegal's fishing towns say they see little benefit trickling down from EU payments.

About 600,000 people in the former French colony of 11 million work in fishing and related industries.

A dry land edging on the Sahara Desert, Senegal produces little beyond peanuts, cotton and cement, so fish always have played a vital role in incomes, diet and culture.