The African Confederation of Artisanal Fishing Organisations (CAOPA), based in Senegal, welcomed the publication by the Minister for Fisheries, Dr Fatou Diouf, of the list of boats authorised to fish in waters under Senegalese jurisdiction.
Looking at this list, "Of the 132 boats registered in Senegal [...] a good half have names of Chinese origin. Add to that a series of boats of Spanish, French, Korean and other origins", CAOPA points out, "the question is whether these boats of foreign origin are really controlled by Senegalese".
When a ship is reflagged to Senegal, the law requires 51% of the capital to be local. As the association Aprapam denounced in 2020, this condition is not always met. Some of the joint ventures that acted as a screen for reflagged vessels had share capital of just one or two millions CFA francs: "one joint venture even had share capital of just 100,000 CFA francs, even though it managed 6 coastal pelagic trawlers! Under these conditions, how can you imagine that it is the Senegalese partner, with his CFA 100,000, who has control of the joint venture, rather than the real owner of these boats worth several billion CFA francs?
CAOPA stresses that, under the guise of these joint ventures, Senegalese industrial fishing is in the hands of foreign interests, the vast majority of whom do not comply with the regulations: "Senegalese legislation requires all Senegalese industrial vessels to take an observer on board. In most cases, this obligation is ignored".
The damage is not confined to Senegalese waters: "Some of these trawlers do not hesitate to hide behind the Senegalese flag in order to take advantage of the fishing agreements negotiated by Senegal with countries in the region, and thus benefit from the fishing resources of Guinea Bissau or Liberia, often not respecting the legislation in force in these countries either, at the risk of tarnishing relations between Senegal and the countries in the region" continues CAOPA.
The solution: transparency on the beneficial owners and participation in management by the men and women from artisanal fisheries
CAOPA identifies "those who pull the strings of the joint ventures under which these Senegalese-registered foreign vessels operate": they are the beneficial owners, "Chinese, Russian or European companies or citizens established in a foreign country". The organisation points out that in 2022, at the Conference of Ministers of African, Caribbean and Pacific States, "a commitment was made by all the countries present, including Senegal". This commitment enjoins States to "take measures, as flag States or coastal States, to update and implement national legislation to require the declaration of the ultimate beneficial owners of fishing vessels and companies when granting the flag or authorisation to fish, and the maintenance of a register of beneficial owners of fishing vessels at the national level".
CAOPA is also calling for the audit of the Senegalese fleet, "promised for the last twenty years", to be carried out and the results published.
The organisation is encouraging the new Senegalese administration to "shed full light on joint ventures and ensure that they operate legally and transparently, contribute to the country's economy and do not harm small-scale fishing in Senegal and in the other countries in the region where these vessels operate". CAOPA also advocates effective adherence to the Fisheries Transparency Initiative FiTi , as well as a strengthening of the remit of the Fishing Licence Allocation Commission (CALP “Commission d’attribution des licences de pêche”) as a means of making the management of Senegal's fisheries transparent and participatory: “In addition to the necessary transparency, we are calling for the licensing committee to be given the power to decide who is and who is not authorised to fish for Senegal's 'blue gold', rather than just being consultative”.
Banner photo: Fish landing in Kafountine, Casamance (Senegal), by Agence Mediaprod for CFFA.
In April 2024, the Liberian National Fisheries and Aquaculture Authority (NaFAA) invited several fisheries stakeholders to validate a draft fisheries management plan for a multi-species deep-water shrimp fishery, which are very vulnerable and already over-exploited. LAFA deplores the absence of an appropriate stakeholder engagement during the development of the plan.