Dug to save Saint-Louis from flooding in 2003, the breach turned into a death trap for many fishermen.
The floods of the Senegal River have marked the history of the city of St Louis since its creation by French settlers in 1659. They have repeatedly caused enormous floods in the city. Called “Beul bi” in Wolof, the Saint-Louis breach was opened in 2003 on the instructions of former president Abdoulaye Wade to fight against flooding in Saint-Louis caused by the flooding of the river at the time.
This 2003 winter was characterized by heavy rainfall in the north and generated a new flood which exceeded the flood threshold which is 1.2 m and the water rose gradually and quickly reached 1.35 m on the 28th. September, despite the storage capacities of the Diama and Manantali dams. The city is heavily flooded with rising floodwaters, raising fears of the worst. On October 1, government authorities, in consultation with local authorities, ordered emergency measures to be taken to finally lower the water level. This is how an artificial breach 4m wide and 1.5m deep was created on October 3 in the Langue de Barbarie, 7 km south of the Faidherbe bridge. It had an immediate effect on flooding because the water level dropped 48 hours after creation and fishermen had a de facto passage to reach the sea.
However, over the months the gap widens. Eight months after its opening, it reached a width of 800m. Studies and measurements carried out in 2006 show a width of almost 1500 m and a depth of 6 m. Since then, the gap has continued to widen and has become, de facto, the new mouth of the Senegal River. Today, we are talking about 15 km wide. If the risks of flooding are reduced, a big problem has been created because this has led to a change in the hydrological behavior of the river with the repetitive rise in the river level at the end of the winter period each year. Accidents are becoming more and more numerous. There have been reports of more than 500 deaths since its opening. “The Saint-Louis breach has, between 2003 and now, killed more than 650 fishermen. What happened recently with the death of around ten fishermen brings us back to the old claim. The breach which is today a passage used by fishermen in Saint-Louis is dangerous and we wonder why there is still no solution. The breach is not natural so there is the possibility of carrying out work to make it less dangerous,” estimates Moustapha Dieng, secretary general of the autonomous national union of fishermen of Senegal.
-Fishermen index poor work. “The work was done without extensive studies. As the breach widens, it loses depth, which causes regular sand movements and the creation of sand bars. It is these sand movements that surprise fishermen returning from the ocean when the sea level is higher than that of the river and this causes these serious accidents,” says Mr. Dieng. For the president of the environment and resource preservation commission of the anglers’ association, this work falls to the State of Senegal which opened the breach. “There is a maintenance problem. In the past, we had to mark the breach which is nothing other than a channel, an unstable crossing point. It is up to the State to maintain this work. Funds must be injected to maintain it and do the marking work,” said Mamadou Sarr. The secretary general of the autonomous national union of fishermen of Senegal believes that Senegal must take inspiration from neighboring Mauritania to provide a definitive solution.
“Mauritania, which is not a fishing country, has succeeded in setting up two to three ports on the Atlantic Ocean side, why is Senegal not capable of doing so? All it takes is political will from the government to resolve the problem. The initiatives undertaken during the Macky Sall era yielded no results and yet billions were spent. For example, 7 billion were paid to bring a machine which was to mark the sand in the breach and dump it on dry land but nothing is done,” laments Mr. Dieng. The fishermen are demanding ports in Saint-Louis and consultations with the Omvs countries for a definitive solution.
Jeanne SAGNA
THE SUN
