Scientist Seeks to Combat Illegal Fishing by Increasing Transparency in Senegal's Seafood Supply Chain

Illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing is a critical global problem that not only threatens ocean biodiversity and sustainable fisheries but also puts coastal communities’ livelihoods and food security at risk.

Aliyah Youssef

In Senegal, industrial fishing vessels’ frequent incursions into artisanal, or small-scale, fishing zones and marine protected areas, and the subsequent laundering of illegally caught fish, are threatening the region’s fish stocks and degrading the ecosystems that sustain coastal communities. 

Dr. Dyhia Belhabib, principal investigator at Ecotrust Canada and 2024 Pew marine fellow, aims to reduce these activities and cut off market access for illegally caught fish. By tracing the seafood supply chain in Senegal, Belhabib is working to understand how illegally caught fish enter the market, who is involved in the trade, how seafood is laundered, and where the fish eventually end up.

This interview with Belhabib has been edited for length and clarity.

Q. Why did you choose to focus your research on illegal fishing in Senegal?

A. Every day, people tell me that they lost their father in a boating collision or that their children can no longer go to school because they can’t afford the fees. I’m angry that some people are making a lot of money from illegal fishing while other people are starving. It’s devastating, and I want to help reduce it.

Q. Can you elaborate on how illegal fishing affects people and families living in Senegal’s coastal communities?

A. Illegal fishing is perpetuated mainly by the industrial sector, which involves big ships with powerful engines coming into the area, fishing on a large scale, and then leaving. Some of these vessels are authorized to operate in the area but fish in illegal ways, by using prohibited gear, keeping undersized fish, or misreporting their catch. As a result of these activities, fewer fish are available for the artisanal fishing sector, which leads to widespread food insecurity and job loss—and not just in Senegal. Since Senegal is a fishing nation that also provides fish to landlocked areas of Africa, these illegal activities can negatively affect hundreds of thousands of lives. On top of this, in areas where the fish stocks are being overexploited, the broader ocean ecosystem is directly affected.

The coastal communities are also impacted in other, more indirect, ways.

Q. Indirect impacts? Like what?

A. When artisanal fishers can no longer maintain their livelihood because the fish stocks have been depleted by the industrial sector illegally, they’re more likely to then engage in illicit activities themselves—such as using explosives to catch more fish or going to another country to fish to make up for the loss. You even see an increase in drug trafficking because people have fewer opportunities to make a livelihood. And if local people believe that their government is tolerating illegal fishing, there’s the risk—which we’ve seen in other countries—of a broader mistrust in government. Some people even decide to leave the country to seek opportunities in Europe, but these illicit migrations are often extremely dangerous, with many people dying before they reach their intended destination.

So although there can be an element of greed in both the industrial and artisanal sectors when it comes to illegal fishing, artisanal fishers may lack awareness of fishing regulations and, consequently, may not necessarily understand the restrictions on fishing in certain areas, at certain times, or with certain gear. In addition, enforcement operations target the artisanal sector more often than the large industrial fishing vessels.

Q. Really? Why is that?

A. Between 2012 and 2015, there was an increase in the Senegalese government’s efforts to prevent illegal fishing, including more patrolling, efforts to increase awareness and education, collaborations with the U.S. and French navies, and heavy sanctioning of illegal fishing operations when possible. However, these actions have dipped in recent years, and much of the transparency about the country’s fisheries management practices has gone away. It’s been horrible to see Senegal go from being an anti-illegal-fishing champion in the region to a country where there is growing distrust between the small-scale fishing operations and the government.

However, the government has recently taken some positive steps, such as publishing a list of vessels that are authorized to fish in Senegal’s waters, to promote transparency around management of the region’s natural resources.

Q. How do you plan to investigate the illegal fishing sector in this region?

A. I plan to interview local fishers in three of Senegal’s coastal communities. A facilitator and I will contact the village chiefs and local chief fishers, who can then convey our request to other fishers. We’ll then sit down in small groups of five to 10 people and listen to their stories.

Part of the conversation will involve showing the fishers pictures of the industrial fishing vessels that I’ll gather during a maritime domain awareness assessment—which involves collecting, analyzing, and integrating data from various sources to track vessels, monitor cargo, and detect illegal activities. And I’ll ask them about topics such as whether they’ve seen the specific ships before, whether they’ve seen any other industrial ships in the area, where those ships tend to fish, and where they take their catches.

The goal is for this to be a casual discussion that allows me to glean information about the market and find out who’s involved with which activities and where these different catches are ending up.

Q. What will you do with the information you gather through these interviews?

A. The next step will be disseminating the information and making sure that the raw testimonies I gather are communicated to the Senegalese government so that we can build bridges with local fishers and reinforce the idea that we’re not coming in to be parachute scientists who simply take information and never come back.

Q. What do you hope will be the result of your research?

A. By increasing transparency around the entire seafood supply chain, I hope to cut off market access for illegally caught fish and reduce these activities within the marine protected areas and artisanal zones. We’ve already addressed some aspects of illegal fishing in Senegal, but what’s missing is how we can sanction effectively, and that means that we, as consumers, are also responsible.

The global West and Europe, in particular, are the ones facilitating the illegal industrial fishing in this region—and these populations are also the ones eating the fish that the companies are bringing in. If we name and shame these companies, link them back to the consumer, and show the connection, then I think consumers would be unwilling to be a part of it.

It’s possible for people to take action and help make a difference.