Press release - October 12, 2014
Dakar, 12 October -- Today, thousands of Senegalese have joined Greenpeace and other organizations’ call to President Macky Sall to act and give the country a fisheries code that can ensure environmentally sustainable and socially equitable exploitation of its fishery resources.
In less than ten days of the campaign, more than 1,200 people have signed the petition1 and appealed to the Head of State via social networks. These are in addition to many other civil society actors who have supported our demands by adopting a declaration on the same issue during the celebration of World Oceans Day on June 8th.
"President Macky Sall’s government urgently needs to address these legal, operational and scientific gaps which are obstacles to the implementation of legislation that will ensure sustainable and equitable use of marine resources in Senegal. The future of the fisheries depends on this legislation and the President Macky Sall cannot not ignore the call of the Senegalese population ", says Marie Suzanne Traore, Oceans campaigner at Greenpeace Africa
"We launched a petition calling on the Senegalese people to ask President Macky Sall to take into account the recommendations2 of the civil society that is intended to address some gaps noted in the drafted texts.", said Traore.
In West Africa, and Senegal in particular, millions of people depend on fisheries for food security and livelihoods. But in the recent decades, the sector has been facing many challenges including overfishing, lack of transparency and illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing that is threatening food security and the livelihoods of small scale fishermen and their families.
« The revision of the code and its implementing decree is a huge opportunity for Senegal to lay the foundations for sustainable and equitable fisheries that ensures the well-being of thousands of people who depend on them. We call President Sall to listen thousands of Senegalese who hope an ambitious and progressive legislation “concluded Marie Suzanne.
Note:
(1) http://bit.ly/1B3h5ss
(2) http://www.greenpeace.org/africa/Global/africa/publications/Recommandations_final.pdf
Contact:
Bakary COULIBALY, Communications Officer, Oceans campaign, Greenpeace Africa email:
; Tel: +221773336265