Fishmeal production causing crisis in Senegal, Mauritania

The growing fishmeal and fish oil industry in West Africa has mainly supported export market growth, leaving domestic seafood markets with dwindling amounts of fish available for human consumption, environmental degradation, and decreased income for fishers and factory workers in Mauritania and Senegal, according to a new human rights impact assessment.Senegal and Mauritania account for 1.12 percent and 0.22 percent of global fishmeal and fish oil output, respectively. Commissioned by the Global Roundtable on Marine Ingredients, an initiative co-founded by the IFFO, The Marine Ingredients Organisation and the marine conservation organization Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, the assessment studied the small pelagic value chain in the two countries, finding that the price of fish has skyrocketed in the two countries, forcing local consumers to forego seafood in their diets.In Mauritania, prices of sardinella have risen in recent years from MRO 100 (USD 0.26, EUR 0.25) per kilogram ...