Fishing in Senegal: Greenpeace requires complete re-gauging of ships • Rewmi.com

Greenpeace activists peacefully protested yesterday at the National Agency of Maritime Affairs (ANAM) of Senegal to demand the publication of the progress of the process of re-gauging ships of industrial fishing in Senegal

"To legalize the tonnage fraud of the ships, it is to compromise the fishing", or "Re-gauging of the ships: ANAM where are you? Could be read on the banners of the Greenpeace activists in front of the ANAM premises. According to a statement from this NGO, the process of re-gauging of industrial fishing vessels, started since 2016, is still lagging behind. This despite the commitments made by the Ministry of Fisheries and the Maritime Economy, as well as the heavy financial, social and environmental consequences that tonnage fraud continues to generate in Senegal. What prompted Ahmed Diamé, ocean campaigner at Greenpeace Africa, said: "We ask the Government of Senegal to review the progress of this process and to publish the results of the internal investigation carried out. in this regard, in accordance with the international and regional commitments made by the country. Under-reporting the gross tonnage of a vessel is an offense under Senegalese law and international conventions. " According to the source, the presentation of a new tonnage certificate was a condition for obtaining the fishing license from 2017. In 2016, the authorities of ANAM and the Minister of Fisheries and the Economy Maritime had promised, in front of all Senegalese, that their services would take over the problem of tonnage fraud and that this issue would be solved before the end of 2016. Thus, says Mr. Diamé: "Two years later, in July 2018, promises made to the media were not kept. In addition to the financial losses for the Senegalese government, this fraud has a negative impact on coastal communities, ecosystems and marine resources ". Indeed, says Greenpeace, the elements of the existence of a massive fraud on the declaration of the gross tonnage of some industrial fishing vessels were revealed to the general public in May 2015 by the organization Greenpeace in its report "Scam on African coasts: The hidden face of Chinese fishing and mixed societies in Senegal, Guinea Bissau and Guinea. In that report, Greenpeace revealed that fishing vessels operating in the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) of these three countries had underreported gross tonnages.