Biting the Hand that Feeds You
This week's New York Times article Europe Takes Africa's Fish and Migrants Follow raises a perplexing problem:
A vast flotilla of industrial trawlers from the European Union, China, Russia and elsewhere, together with an abundance of local boats, have so thoroughly scoured northwest Africa’s ocean floor that major fish populations are collapsing.
That has crippled coastal economies and added to the surge of illegal migrants who brave the high seas in wooden pirogues hoping to reach Europe. While reasons for immigration are as varied as fish species, Europe’s lure has clearly intensified as northwest Africa’s fish population has dwindled.
Last year roughly 31,000 Africans tried to reach the Canary Islands, a prime transit point to Europe, in more than 900 boats. About 6,000 died or disappeared, according to one estimate cited by the United Nations.
The question then arises: who bears the brunt of responsibility for these dwindling fish populations and the subsequent affect on local fishers? The foreign boats which deplete the waters and the foreign consumers which demand them to do so? The local governments, who strapped for cash, make decisions to sell resources needed by their people to fill the government coffers and/or fund state programs?
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Europe's Craving for Fish
There is another article in this series called Europe’s Appetite for Seafood Propels Illegal Trade. It discusses the huge "black market" for fish consumption focused on Europe, and the lack of regulation or control to keep some semblance of order regarding how fish are caught. The most worrisome passage to me is this:
There is no way that regulations will be effective if this is the approach that is taken. Many of these fish are caught and sold illegally, and if the poachers were not able to make a profit on their illegal catch, it would act as a stimulus for them to start operating above the radar!
One of the tragedies of this situation is that much of the illegal fishing is done by European and other international fishing boats off the coast of Africa - where African fishers are actually trying to fish sustainably, recognizing from the European experience that their fish populations are vulnerable. The foreign boats don't care about this though: "large seagoing boats use practices that are dangerous to the environment, particularly the use of vast nets to trawl the sea bed. The nets destroy coral, and unsettle eggs and fish breeding grounds. They gulp up fish that cannot be sold because they are too small. Their competition decimates local fishing industries."
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