The new Ministry of Fisheries published on Monday, May 6th, a list of 151 industrial vessels authorized to fish in Senegalese waters. This request had been made by fishing stakeholders during the electoral campaign, in support of environmentalist NGOs.
It was a campaign promise: the Ministry of Fisheries has made public the list of 151 industrial fishing vessels authorized to operate in Senegalese waters. Licenses valid from January 1st to December 31st, 2024, were issued by the former government: in total, 132 boats are Senegalese and only 19 are foreign.
Fleet Audit
These numbers raise questions for Mor Mbengue, from the local council of artisanal fishing in Kayar. He calls for an audit of the fleet to determine the true owners of these vessels that claim to be Senegalese: “Every time we’re at sea, we see Chinese people on boats. Senegal and China do not have a fishing agreement. So, we have always suspected that there are frontmen on these boats.”
Transparency
The publication of the list of boats is a first step towards transparency, according to Aliou Ba, head of the Greenpeace Ocean campaign in Africa. He calls on the new authorities to go further: “I think the other steps that need to be taken would be to encourage the Senegalese state to invest much more in fisheries surveillance, to eliminate all irregular fishing.”
The Ministry of Fisheries has also identified more than 17,000 artisanal fishing canoes.