Voiceover (Ted Danson)
Hundreds of millions of people in the world depend on fish to keep them alive. For 1.2 billion people it is a key part of their diet. In West Africa ‘which used to have one of the richest seas on the planet’ the stocks of fish have declined massively in the last fifty years. Rashid Sumaila is an expert on West African fisheries who has come to Senegal to find out what effect this has had on local people.
Associate Professor Rashid Sumaila, University of British Columbia
Fish is crucial in West Africa. The coastal people depend on fish and even the interior people come down when the farms disappoint them, when there is drought, deserts and so on. So, it is very important to keep this going for the sake of the people because if the fish goes down – the coast of West Africa will be littered with problems. We cannot afford to let this go.
Voiceover
Adama Mbergaul is an artisanal fisherman who lives in Dakar the capital of Senegal. Fishing is his livelihood.
Adama Mbergaul
Fishing is our culture. We are ‘Lebou’. We belong to this particular ethnic group, which is passed on from the tradition of our grandparents. When I was a young boy what I witnessed with my own eyes was a sea full of fish. There used to be fish in abundance and our grandfathers encouraged us to follow in their footsteps. But the sea betrayed us.
Voiceover
Today Adama earns $6.00 from his fishing. His fuel cost him $4.00. What is left has to feed his family. Meanwhile on the same shoreline money is being made. The governments of many developing countries trade fishing rights for quick cash from developed nations. Taxpayers from the western world pay for the largest fishing boats on the planet. Super trawlers to fish the distant waters. The locals in their Pirogues don’t stand a chance.
Haidar El Ali, Diver
That’s no good for the fisherman, that’s no good for our seas. That’s good just for European fishermen and the government of Senegal because it brings a lot of money.
Voiceover
Haidar has dived the waters off Senegal for the last thirty-five years and has witnessed huge changes to the health of the local ocean. He is campaigning against foreign boats fishing in his waters.
Haidar El Ali, Diver
When I see this I want to fight this guy. I want to fight with this boat. I want to fight with the government who take just money and don’t know what they do…I want to fight with the world because the world is going to be dead – it’s not possible.
Voiceover
Fishing is one of the most wasteful practices on earth. Every year more than seven million tonnes – a tenth of the world catch – goes back over the side – dead. This includes hundreds of thousands of turtles, seabirds, sharks, whales and dolphins.
Haidar El Ali, Diver
See how he do…he destroys the ocean. He takes just what he want, he take just what he need to sell now. But the fish he don’t need to sell, that he put back and he kill them. Look all around you.
Voiceover
As the fish have been taken by foreign fleets fishermen like Adama have been left with an impossible decision. Should he leave his family and risk the dangerous journey to Europe.
Adama Mbergaul
For me the truth is, that things are very, very tough. When I think about leaving for Europe I feel something in my body. I know it is safe and it is not safe. Because I know the dangers of the sea. But I have no choice. Look at my daughter. If my children grow up here today where there is no future, how will they consider me as their father?
Associate Professor Rashid Sumaila, University of British Columbia
If the fish goes the people are left poorer and what happens? They try to emigrate. The Europeans like our fish but they don’t like the people. The fish has visa to come in but the people are turned back.