For West African artisanal fishing communities, the fishmeal boom may be a bonanza for a few, but is a curse for mos

Gorez, Béatrice

Aquatic Commons

JANUARY 2018
33
Mealy Deal
For West African artisanal fishing communities, the fishmeal  
boom may be a bonanza for a few, but is a curse for most
...the anarchic development of the fishmeal industry 
threatens fishing communities’ health and access to fish 
as raw material...
With an increased demand for fishmeal and fish oil in the major world markets, 
which offer very remunerative prices, 
fishmeal factories are multiplying 
in West Africa. In Senegal, there are 
now more than a dozen officially 
registered fishmeal plants—and 
some more operating clandestinely. 
In Mauritania, their numbers have 
exploded over the last few years, 
reaching 29 plants by end 2015. 
In The Gambia a first fishmeal plant 
has begun operating, while a second 
one is being built.
Last September, at the initiative 
of the Senegalese artisanal fishing 
platform CONIPAS, together with the 
local support association APRAPAM, 
a regional forum was held where 
fishing communities, environmental 
associations, scientists from 
Mauritania, Senegal and Gambia 
shared their experiences and concerns 
about fishmeal production in West 
Africa. The initiative was supported by 
the African Confederation of Artisanal 
Fishing Organizations, which now 
gathers fishing organizations from 
24 African countries, many of which 
are worried about the boom of 
fishmeal production in West Africa.
Indeed, nowadays, fishmeal 
factories are using an increasing 
amount of fresh fish, in particular 
sardinella. Round sardinella are the 
most abundant species among small 
pelagics in the region, most of which 
are shared between Mauritania and 
Senegal. Average annual catches of 
sardinella in Northwest Africa are 
around 600,000 tonnes. In 2013, in 
Mauritania alone, more than 300,000 
tonnes of small pelagic fish were sent 
to fishmeal factories.
Round sardinellas are showing 
signs of overexploitation in the 
region. The Food and Agriculture 
Organization of the United Nations 
(FAO) Working Group on small 
pelagics, composed of experts 
representing the coastal States as well 
as countries fishing in the sub-region, 
has recommended, for several years, 
the reduction of fishing effort on this 
resource. However, this seems like an 
insurmountable task, in the absence 
of concerted regional management 
of small pelagics. Instead, fishing 
pressure is growing, fuelled by the 
increasing demand for small pelagics 
to be used for fishmeal.
The round sardinella, and small 
pelagics in general, are a staple food 
for West African coastal communities, 
providing proteins, vitamins and 
amino acids. Worryingly, as was 
described in a research report 
published in 2014, the contribution 
of small pelagic fish to people’s diets 
throughout West Africa is in decline. 
Between 2004 and 2014, at least 
1.7 mn tonnes of small-pelagic 
fish caught off Northwest Africa, 
from Mauritania down to Guinea, 
was landed for direct human 
consumption. 
Dwindling catches
Yet there has been a steady decline in 
catches. The report predicts that by 
2025, the gap between demand and 
supply may reach 3.3 mn tonnes, if 
the aim is to sustain fish consumption 
at the 2012 level. In this context, 
This article is by Béatrice Gorez  
(cffa.cape@gmail.com), Co-ordinator, 
Coalition for Fair Fisheries Arrangements 
(CFFA), Brussels, Belgium
FishmeAl
West Africa 
34
SAMUDRA RepoRt No. 78
the expansion of the production of 
fishmeal is a threat to regional 
food security. 
For the West African consumer, 
the scarcity is already apparent 
with the soaring prices of sardinella 
sold on the beaches. Indeed, fishmeal 
production plants turn increasingly 
to fresh sardinella caught by both 
industrial and artisanal vessels, 
competing with women who process 
the fish to supply the local markets 
for human consumption. “All these 
factories feed on fresh fish, mainly 
sardinella, often with the help of 
our fishermen”, says a woman fish 
processor who attended the forum. 
More and more, women are struggling 
to get fish for processing and they 
see their businesses grinding to 
a standstill.
Fishmeal factories send people 
to buy directly on the beaches, 
offering fishermen higher prices than 
fishmongers. In Saint Louis (Senegal), 
there is only one fishmeal plant 
owned by a Chinese company. It buys 
its fish directly at the landing site. 
Fishmeal factories
A fisherman explains that they offer 
between 3,000 and 4,000 CFA francs 
per box of 50 kg (USD 1=CFA534). The 
fishmeal is sold abroad (in Asia and 
FAo / FRANco MAttioli
the catch of sardinella is being sucked up by pump at the unloading pier at Djifer, Senegal. 
Nowadays, fishmeal factories are using an increasing amount of fresh fish, sardinella
W e S t  A F R i c A
JANUARY 2018
35
disorders, especially in children and 
people with chronic diseases. “These 
plants are a serious threat to public 
health”, he insists. 
In Senegal, the press recently 
reported the discomfort caused to the 
local population by the fumes coming 
out of a fishmeal factory near Mbour, 
which eventually exploded, causing 
fatal casualties.
In Gambia, in September 2016, a 
Chinese fishmeal factory was opened 
in Gunjur, a village very close to the 
capital city of Banjul. It was hoped 
that the factory would create much-
needed jobs. However, a few months 
later, the villagers began to notice foul 
smells coming from the factory, and 
pollution that caused water to turn 
red. Taken to court, the company, 
Golden Lead, had to pay US$25,000 
as penalty and take immediate 
measures to treat its wastewater.
The forum in Senegal was an 
opportunity to set up an informal 
network that will continue to mobilize 
people around this issue, sharing 
information, campaigning and raising 
awareness with the authorities and 
the fishers themselves. Evidently, 
the anarchic development of the 
fishmeal industry threatens fishing 
communities’ health and access to fish 
as raw material for processing, thus 
jeopardizing food security.                     
Europe) or locally for the production 
of animal feed, for industrial poultry 
farms or for aquaculture. 
In a place like Saint Louis, many 
fishers feel they do not have any 
alternative other than to sell to 
the factory, as the local processing 
and distribution channels are not 
developed enough to absorb the 
quantities of fish they land in some 
seasons, when small pelagics are 
abundant. When sardinella is 
abundant, the fishmeal plant can buy 
up to 100 tonnes a day. But in the low 
season, it sometimes happens that the 
plant almost stops its activities. 
If some fishers find it lucrative to 
sell to the fishmeal factories, many 
in the sector argue that the fishmeal 
industry develops at the expense of 
jobs in artisanal fisheries. The activities 
associated with sardinella fisheries, 
artisanal processing and distribution 
of processed fish, are characterized 
by low barriers to entry in terms of 
capital, skills and knowhow. 
In Senegal, a single artisanal 
purse seine catching sardinellas can 
give jobs to more than a hundred 
people—not just those active in 
processing, transport and distribution 
of processed fish products, but also 
boat builders, net makers, and so on, 
each of them with a family to feed, 
points out Gaoussou Gueye, from 
the association APRAPAM. About 
20 per cent of the 60,000 fishers in 
Senegal fish exclusively for sardinella. 
In 2015, the Senegalese Research 
Centre CRODT identified more than 
2,000 artisanal purse-seine pirogues, 
that account for more than 200,000 
people living off the fishing activities 
of these units. In comparison, a 
fishmeal production plant offers a 
few dozen jobs.
Fingers are also pointing to 
fishmeal factories as sources of 
pollution and health problems. The 
factories release toxic wastes into 
the sea. Thick smoke from factories 
pollute the air. This smoke is the 
cause of many diseases. Mokhtar Ould 
Amah, a Mauritanian ENT doctor, 
explains that air pollution, due to the 
fishmeal factories in Nouadhibou, 
propagated numerous pathologies 
such as allergy, asthma and respiratory 
F i S h M e A l
http://www.cape-cffa.org/  
Coalition for Fair Fisheries 
Arrangements (CFFA) 
https://www.icsf.net/en/samudra/article/
eN/77-4319-the-Black-hole-.html 
The Black Hole in the Seas
http://cape-cffa.squarespace.com/new-
blog/2017/8/29/fishmeal-production-
in-west-africa-issues-for-coastal-
communities 
Fishmeal Production In West 
Africa: Issues For Coastal 
Communities
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West Africa: fishmeal, mealy deal

http://aquaticcommons.org/23199/1/008%20Sam78_Mealy%20Deal%20by%20Beatrice%20Gorez.pdf

West Africa: fishmeal, mealy deal

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