Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nationsfor a world without hunger

Overfishing in west Africa linked to food crisis, migration, says report

11 August 2008
Source: ICSF
According to a recent report by the nongovernmental organisation ActionAid, West African seas are being devastated by legal and illegal overfishing, while local fishing industries decline. Moreover, the economic partnership agreements in their currently proposed form only exacerbate this problem.
The overfishing of West African coastal waters, often by large European trawlers and sometimes by ‘‘fishing pirates’’ who trawl without any authorisation, has largely depleted local fish stocks. This has a direct impact on the rising rate of unemployment and on the ever-increasing flow of West Africans who embark on perilous journeys to Europe, in search of a better life.
Continental coverage: Africa