While the governments of Senegal, Mauritania and the Gambia have been distributing emergency food kits to local communities in the wake of the Covid19 pandemic, a new Greenpeace report details how these same governments have continued to allow the systematic plundering of the oceans by the ships of multi-national fishing companies and the fishmeal and fish oil industry.
The report says some of these industries have gone so far as to try to take advantage of the containment measures associated with Covid-19.
The Greenpeace report entitled "Seasickness: While West Africa is sealed off by COVID-19, its waters remain open to plunder" is based on observations of fishing vessels and fishmeal and fish oil factories in Senegal, Gambia and Mauritania.
Greenpeace concludes its report by calling for the permanent closure of fishmeal and fish oil factories operating in West Africa, with the exception of those that exclusively use waste from the processing of fish unfit for human consumption.
Dr Aliou Ba is the policy advisor for the Ocean Campaign at Greenpeace Africa.
