Global Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing in West Africa: Recent Trends and Historical Legacies

The “new” scramble for African resources, triggered by the expansion of Chinese trade and development cooperation, increasingly aims at the exploitation of African fish resources. This brings severe threats to local coastal populations, whose economy as well as protein intake is based on fishing activities. This article focuses on illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) in West Africa to shed light on the risks that the massive presence of Chinese and European trawlers entails for biodiversity and for the livelihood of local artisanal fishermen. It will describe some recent cases of IUU fishing in the area and the challenges faced by local authorities, through literature evidence and information collected through an interview. The goal is that of providing an update view on the issue yet with a look also at the historical foundation of the investigated phenomenon. In fact, I link the case of IUU fishing to the broader question of the expansion of rapacious capitalism in Africa in the shadow of the global market, to reflect on the lack of transformation of some dynamics inherited from the last century that continue to penalize the continent.