{"id":51470,"date":"2022-06-08T09:38:20","date_gmt":"2022-06-08T09:38:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/?p=51470"},"modified":"2022-06-16T22:27:20","modified_gmt":"2022-06-16T22:27:20","slug":"world-oceans-day-as-food-insecurity-worsens-greenpeace-africa-and-fishing-communities-across-west-africa-demand-action-on-the-fishmeal-and-fish-oil-industry-to-prevent-a-human-catastrophe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/press\/51470\/world-oceans-day-as-food-insecurity-worsens-greenpeace-africa-and-fishing-communities-across-west-africa-demand-action-on-the-fishmeal-and-fish-oil-industry-to-prevent-a-human-catastrophe\/","title":{"rendered":"World Oceans Day: As food insecurity worsens, Greenpeace Africa and fishing communities across West Africa demand action on the fishmeal and fish oil industry \u201cto prevent a human catastrophe\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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PROTECT THE OCEANS – PROTECT FISHING COMMUNITIES<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

Fishing communities and civil society groups across West Africa will unite today (8 June, World Oceans Day) in a show of strength against the fishmeal and fish oil (FMFO) industry and the politicians that have enabled it.<\/p>\n\n

As food prices soar thanks to corporate profiteering from the war in Ukraine, and with recent figures from the Global Network Against Food Crises<\/a> showing that several million people on West Africa\u2019s coast were already nearing \u2018crisis\u2019 levels of food insecurity, [1] the coalition is drawing attention to fish that should feed West Africans and provide employment in the region instead of being caught by industrial trawlers and fed to farmed fish, animals and pets in wealthier countries.<\/p>\n\n

In Senegal, fishermen and women fish processors will meet at dozens of fishing beaches along the country\u2019s coast in order to protest against the government\u2019s refusal to protect the country\u2019s fish stocks and the communities that depend on them. One maritime protest, at Joal, will feature a flotilla of fishing pirogues carrying two large banners. In The Gambia, a caravan of local environmental groups will travel between the locations of factories that take fish and process it into FMFO. And in Mauritania, NGO Zakia will be carrying out awareness-raising events highlighting ecological damage by FMFO factories, which further threatens the region\u2019s fish stocks.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cFor people living on the coasts of these three different countries to act with such unity – that\u2019s something really new, and it\u2019s exciting, said Mrs. Fatou A Jeng, a campaigner from the Gambia Environmental Alliance. \u201cIt shows how angry we are – and how organized we have become. <\/p>\n\n


These feelings were shared by coastal communities in Mauritania, home to many of the factories that process the catch from the region\u2019s fish stocks. \u201cThe authorities here have allowed a huge number of fishmeal and fish oil factories to be built along our coast,\u201d said Mansour Brahim Boidaha from Mauritanian NGO Zakia. \u201cWe\u2019re saying to big businesses like EWOS\/Cargill, Mowi, Skretting, BioMar: don\u2019t touch our fish. And we\u2019re saying to the government: please close the factories.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Dr. Aliou Ba, Greenpeace Africa\u2019s Senior Oceans Campaigner, highlighted the long term structural problems that are causing food insecurity. \u201cThe government in Senegal can\u2019t only blame the recent increases in food prices on the war on Ukraine, when they are still letting big business take edible fish and sell it abroad as fish food. To prevent a human catastrophe, this theft has to end now. [2] And to replenish marine life and make sure everyone benefits from the ocean, we need a UN Global Ocean Treaty. This could help to protect at least 30% of the world\u2019s oceans by 2030 with a network of ocean sanctuaries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Stills and videos of the World Ocean Day protests will be available on Greenpeace Africa\u2019s <\/strong>English<\/strong><\/a> and <\/strong>French<\/strong><\/a> language social platforms.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Notes to editors<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

[1] The most recent Global Network Against Food Crises<\/a> report, written before the impact of Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine on food insecurity could be added to forecasts, predicted that in June to August 2022, 3.9m (22%) people in Senegal would experience \u2018stressed\u2019 levels of food insecurity (indicating minimally adequate food consumption, according to the IPC classification<\/a> of food insecurity) while 0.9m (5%) people would experience \u2018crisis\u2019 levels (indicating moderately inadequate food consumption). In Mauritania, 1.4m people (33%) would experience stressed food insecurity and 0.9m people (20%) would be in crisis. In the Gambia, 0.6m people (25%) would experience stressed food insecurity and 0.2m people (8%) would be in crisis. <\/p>\n\n

[2] With support from Greenpeace Africa, fishers and fish transformers across West Africa have been campaigning for years<\/a> for their governments to clamp down on the FMFO industry. Greenpeace Africa is calling on the Senegalese government to formally freeze new authorizations for fishmeal factories, and is calling for all West African governments to:<\/p>\n\n