PROTECT THE OCEANS – PROTECT FISHING COMMUNITIES

Fishing communities and civil society groups across West Africa will unite today (8 June, World Oceans Day) in a show of strength against the fishmeal and fish oil (FMFO) industry and the politicians that have enabled it.

As food prices soar thanks to corporate profiteering from the war in Ukraine, and with recent figures from the Global Network Against Food Crises showing that several million people on West Africa’s coast were already nearing ‘crisis’ levels of food insecurity, [1] the coalition is drawing attention to fish that should feed West Africans and provide employment in the region instead of being caught by industrial trawlers and fed to farmed fish, animals and pets in wealthier countries.

In Senegal, fishermen and women fish processors will meet at dozens of fishing beaches along the country’s coast in order to protest against the government’s refusal to protect the country’s fish stocks and the communities that depend on them. One maritime protest, at Joal, will feature a flotilla of fishing pirogues carrying two large banners. In The Gambia, a caravan of local environmental groups will travel between the locations of factories that take fish and process it into FMFO. And in Mauritania, NGO Zakia will be carrying out awareness-raising events highlighting ecological damage by FMFO factories, which further threatens the region’s fish stocks.

“For people living on the coasts of these three different countries to act with such unity – that’s something really new, and it’s exciting, said Mrs. Fatou A Jeng, a campaigner from the Gambia Environmental Alliance. “It shows how angry we are – and how organized we have become. 


These feelings were shared by coastal communities in Mauritania, home to many of the factories that process the catch from the region’s fish stocks. “The authorities here have allowed a huge number of fishmeal and fish oil factories to be built along our coast,” said Mansour Brahim Boidaha from Mauritanian NGO Zakia. “We’re saying to big businesses like EWOS/Cargill, Mowi, Skretting, BioMar: don’t touch our fish. And we’re saying to the government: please close the factories.”

Dr. Aliou Ba, Greenpeace Africa’s Senior Oceans Campaigner, highlighted the long term structural problems that are causing food insecurity. “The government in Senegal can’t only blame the recent increases in food prices on the war on Ukraine, when they are still letting big business take edible fish and sell it abroad as fish food. To prevent a human catastrophe, this theft has to end now. [2] And to replenish marine life and make sure everyone benefits from the ocean, we need a UN Global Ocean Treaty. This could help to protect at least 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030 with a network of ocean sanctuaries.”

Stills and videos of the World Ocean Day protests will be available on Greenpeace Africa’s English and French language social platforms.

Notes to editors

[1] The most recent Global Network Against Food Crises report, written before the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on food insecurity could be added to forecasts, predicted that in June to August 2022, 3.9m (22%) people in Senegal would experience ‘stressed’ levels of food insecurity (indicating minimally adequate food consumption, according to the IPC classification of food insecurity) while 0.9m (5%) people would experience ‘crisis’ levels (indicating moderately inadequate food consumption). In Mauritania, 1.4m people (33%) would experience stressed food insecurity and 0.9m people (20%) would be in crisis. In the Gambia, 0.6m people (25%) would experience stressed food insecurity and 0.2m people (8%) would be in crisis. 

[2] With support from Greenpeace Africa, fishers and fish transformers across West Africa have been campaigning for years for their governments to clamp down on the FMFO industry. Greenpeace Africa is calling on the Senegalese government to formally freeze new authorizations for fishmeal factories, and is calling for all West African governments to:

  • Phase out any fishmeal and fish oil production using fish fit for human consumption.
  • Grant women fish processors legal status, which would give them access to labour rights and benefits such as social security and the right to be consulted on local fisheries management.
  • Establish an effective management regime for the exploitation of their shared fish resources, such as small pelagic fish, based on a precautionary and ecosystem-based approach.

Press contact (West Africa)

Amagor Robert NIANG 

[email protected]

Contact: +221771834049

Press contact (rest of the world): Richard Power Sayeed: [email protected]