African Fishery, European Markets. Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing in West Africa

Fish represents the pillar of human security for the coastal communities living in Western Africa and especially along the Gulf of Guinea, that is, in the twelve countries of Mauritania, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Nigeria. Fish provides in fact an important source of protein for the diet of millions of people in the area, and the fisheries sector employs around nine million people in West Africa, both in sea activities and in in-land food processing (Okafor-Yarwood 2020: 6). Therefore, the preservation of a secure marine environment is strictly connected to the safeguarding of human security. Despite the centrality of maintaining fishing activities sustainable, West Africa is becoming increasingly known for so-called illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, commonly abbreviated in “IUU” fishing. Such activities— that will be described in more detail in the next section, are carried out mostly by non-African vessels, including a relevant share of EU-flagged fleets. If in these countries the revenue of marine fish production is estimated in US$2 billion per year, the value of unreported catch may be instead much higher (GEF 2017). For example, Belhabib estimated that just for the six countries of Mauritania, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, and Sierra Leone, the loss in yearly revenues due to IUU fishing amounts to some US$2.3 billion: as one can imagine, an economic deprivation of that sort bears tangible consequences for the well-being of coastal populations linked to the fishing sector.