Last Monday, November 11, the representative of the European Commission in Senegal announced that the European Union did not intend to renew the fishing agreement which links this entity with Senegal, and wanted to withdraw all fishing boats Europeans from the Senegalese coasts from November 17. If this announcement surprised Senegalese public opinion, the public authorities made no official comment. Even the press release from the Council of Ministers which followed ignored this matter.
The first news of the breakup
It was by chance that two ministers of the Republic spoke out on the issue. The Minister of Higher Education, Abdourahmane Diouf, took advantage of a political meeting of the ruling Pastef party to try to refute the statements of Mr. Jean-Marc Pisani. He said: “Our friends in the European Union have organized a press conference to tell the whole world that they have decided to no longer sign the fishing agreements with the government of Senegal. This is an absolute untruth.” He specified: “It is the government of Senegal (…) which gave the signal a long time ago to tell them that we cannot continue to sign fishing agreements which will impoverish Senegal’s fishermen.” His colleague Ms. Fatou Diouf added on the same register, to say that, well before the European Commission’s announcement, the Senegalese government had made it known that it was not in the mood to renew the agreements as they stood. . She promised to address public opinion after the legislative elections. We dare to think that it will probably not take long.
If only to respond to the European Commission. Mr. Pisani and his services emphasized the fact that the fishing agreement would not be renewed because the country had not taken charge of the shortcomings noted by its partners, especially with regard to so-called fishing. Inn, namely illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. The Europeans even added that they had, through this decision, “issued a yellow card to Senegal”, to encourage the authorities to take measures to correct the shortcomings noted.
Expected benefits of a decision
For the moment, depending on public reaction, the authorities seem to be in a wait-and-see position, probably saying that there is no urgency in the matter. Because if there is a feeling shared by the majority of Senegalese, it is that it is foreign ships, mainly European, which are at the root of the depletion of fishing resources in the country. This scarcity, in addition to influencing the price of fish, an essential element of the national dish, “tiebu jën”, fish rice, also deprives many Senegalese of financial resources. Many international structures have never hesitated to claim that the impoverishment of Senegalese populations living from coastal fisheries was due to strong competition from European trawlers. The Environmental Justice Foundation (Ejf, according to the English initials) clearly blames European trawlers for the depletion of maritime resources in Senegal: “The environmentally destructive and unsustainable fishing practices practiced by the trawler fleet aggravate the crisis in the artisanal fishing sector. Artisanal fishermen have seen the volume of their catches decrease considerably and are forced to compete for dwindling resources. The NGO Greenpeace has never been kind to the presence of foreign ships, especially European and Chinese, in Senegalese waters.
Most of these observers were quick to link the phenomenon of illegal emigration of people coming from Senegal and certain countries of the African Hinterland, with the explosion of youth unemployment in Senegal and in African countries. For a long time, the new political regime in Senegal never hesitated to revel in this pernicious rapprochement, which it put down to the power of its predecessor Macky Sall. And to show that things were going to change quickly, the Ministry of Fisheries, Maritime and Port Infrastructure hastened, from May 2024, to publish the list of vessels authorized to fish in Senegalese waters. To show the level of hope raised by this declaration, many Senegalese had a sort of optical effect, declaring that they saw the beaches filled with fish landed by fishermen. For some, this was the effect of the coming of “Messiah Diomaye”. However, the list was never followed by any other decision.
The “flaws” of a list
The list was made public without any comment from authorities. However, there would have been a lot to say about it. We would therefore have liked to have explanations for the fairly high number of ships formerly registered Chinese, which subsequently changed flag to become Senegalese. More than thirty ships are in this rather astonishing situation, while the Spanish and French ships operating in Senegal during this census did not even number 20. One would have to be naive to accept that these are fewer of twenty European ships which are enough to scour the Senegalese waters.
It is undoubtedly to protect herself from these criticisms that Ms. Fatou Diouf, during her intervention in front of certain cameras, in response to the question on the withdrawal of European ships, recalled that she had commissioned an evaluation of the sector for which she was responsible. charge, and while awaiting said assessment, it could not envisage negotiating a renewal of the agreement.
We could concede this point to our ministers, and nevertheless remind them that it is not the most important given the issues. If the Europeans hastened to communicate, it is undoubtedly because they felt in a position of strength. Didn’t they add that if things didn’t change, a “red card” could follow the yellow card. It will then be an embargo for Senegalese fish products on the European market.
This would undoubtedly please certain members of Pastef in power, and their cronies who think that sovereignism goes hand in hand with autarky. But would this suit the many players in industrial fishing whose exports sell well in Europe?
The sins of artisanal fishing
Even those involved in artisanal fishing would like to avoid what would look, all things considered, like a nuclear bomb. The arrival of Trump to power in the United States makes a large opening of the American market within the framework of Agoa, the renewal of which is currently being discussed, illusory. A closure of the European market would be a bad signal for all players. This is why the members of the African Confederation of Artisanal Fisheries Organizations (Caopa) would not like to be taken by surprise, and are trying at their level to make their members aware of the need to respect the directives for preservation of fishery resources.
Gaoussou Guèye, the president of Caopa, is aware that Inn fishing does not only concern large vessels, but also affects artisanal fishing, many of whose members navigate outside the rules: “Very often, at the level of our organizations, we blame industrial fishing, particularly the capture of juveniles. But there is also artisanal fishing which takes place, which requires making a good assessment, and encouraging stakeholders to adopt good fishing practices. And here we professional organizations have a role and a responsibility to play in raising awareness among our members, fishermen, for the proper protection of the oceans and resources.” Mr. Guèye’s speech is not yet popular, especially at the official level. But in private, everyone recognizes that he is absolutely right.
How can we explain that the Senegalese government is not yet able, to date, to make a clear assessment of its fishing fleet? Where some speak of 50,000 artisanal fishermen, Ansd figures indicated for 2020, more than 75,000 fishermen. Of the nearly 27,000 canoes recorded in the same period, only 17,964 were registered, while around ten thousand had an artisanal fishing license. We must pay tribute to President Macky Sall for knowing how to improve relations with our Mauritanian neighbors, thanks in particular to the sharing of hydrocarbon resources straddling our maritime border. Presidents Ghazouani and Sall were able to facilitate the acquisition of fishing licenses in Mauritania for Senegalese fishermen. In recent years, we have no longer heard stories of Senegalese fishermen arrested for having violated the fishing zones of Mauritania or Guinea-Bissau.
We will undoubtedly keep European fishermen from our coasts, which would be a good thing if the fishing resource returns and fully benefits the Senegalese. However, to achieve this, our actors would need to be subject to discipline and rules that allow the resource to be preserved, which is very far from being the case. Then, we should not replace the Spaniards and the French with Chinese, Koreans or Russians, who are even more predatory, and sometimes even less respectful of the rules of maritime fishing than those on whom we want to place the responsibility for all our ills. .
If the promised assessment does not adopt drastic measures in this direction, Senegalese fishing will always navigate in troubled waters.
