This post was originally published in Seafood Source. Written by Chris Chase.
An investigation by DeSmog through a partnership with investigative journalism platform Follow The Money has reemphasized that the use of pelagic fish from West African fish in aquaculture feed results in lower supplies of food for local residents.
The multi-part industrial aquaculture series by DeSmog has found fish farmed in multiple countries rely on feed that, in some cases, uses fishmeal sourced from West African fisheries with questionable sustainability. The latest report by the news outlet found Dutch supermarkets, for example, sell sea bass which are fed with feed containing ingredients from Senegal’s sardine fishery.
Senegal’s pelagic fisheries have been the subject of investigations in the past.
In 2020, local fishers decried an influx of Chinese trawlers that they said were overexploiting the region’s resources and causing harm to their livelihoods. It was one of several West African countries – including Ghana and Liberia – decrying the presence of large trawlers in their waters.
The DeSmog report found that, now, local fishmeal producers are buying fresh catch that was previously sold in local fish markets – taking food away from locals.
“Rich European consumers are indirectly taking food out of our mouths,” Amadou Kamara, a member of coastal communities in West Africa calling for resistance against the fishmeal industry, told DeSmog. “When the season starts in December, we immediately see the lorries appearing on the beach. They drive en masse from the coast to the factory.”
The report found local traders are being outbid by fishmeal factories for the fish, resulting in lower supplies of protein for local markets as the fish are bought up.
“Local Senegalese fish processors and traders are being outcompeted by fishmeal factories in the battle for small pelagic fish,” Leibniz Center for Tropical Marine Research Professor Achim Schlüter told DeSmog.
Fishmeal companies in the region denied the accusation, saying local fresh fish prices are too high to make sense as fishmeal ingredients.
“To make 1 kilogram of fishmeal, you need 5 kilograms of fish,” a factory manager at Afric Azote – one of the manufacturing companies – told DeSmog. “At current prices, it would be completely nonsensical from an economic point of view to make meal from sardines that we have to buy on the market.”
However, documents indicate there are contracts between Afric Azote and local fishermen.
The latest investigation follows up on an earlier one released in May by DeSmog, which found U.K. supermarkets also contained fish fed with fishmeal from Senegal.