By Jean Sovon and Vivian Wu
Mauritania, a West African country with direct access to the Atlantic, has long been known for its vibrant fishing industry. However, large-scale industrial fishing from foreign trawlers is putting that industry at risk, endangering local livelihoods and leaving the local fishermen with no path of recourse.
While vessels from all around the world can be found in Mauritania's waters, a European Parliament report estimates that at least 80 percent of the industrial ships are from China. This is because in June 2010, China, through the Poly-Hondone Pelagic Fishery Co., signed a 25-year cooperation agreement with Mauritania.
Under the agreement, the Mauritanian authorities will benefit from a USD 100 million investment from China for the construction and operation of a fish processing plant in Nouadhibou, the country's economic capital and second-largest city in the southwest. In return, Mauritania has granted China 25-year fishing rights, backed by exclusive operating licenses, making Chinese fishing companies powerful players in the Mauritanian fishing sector.
Watchdogs say the resulting unchecked fishing has depleted Mauritania's coastal waters, causing an undue burden on local fishermen and wreaking havoc on the environment.
This Chinese domination of Mauritanian waters has been widely documented and denounced by Mauritanian civil society organizations as well as international players, such as Greenpeace Africa. Oumy Sène of Greenpeace Afrique released a statement calling on the Mauritanian government to safeguard its waters.
The Mauritanian government must show responsibility: it must safeguard, maintain, and conserve its natural resources and protect the livelihoods of its fishermen, who in turn feed and sustain the country. This convention must be denounced without delay.
Although this intrusion of the Chinese fleet into Mauritanian waters may be perceived as a step towards the upgrading and modernizing of the local fishing industry, it has created conditions that are highly unfavorable for local development. Locals are witnessing clear unfair competition, the direct consequence of which is a considerable decline in fish stock.
Fishing is a way of life for those on Mauritania's coasts. While it accounts for only 10 percent of the country's GDP, it accounts for between 35–50 percent of the country's exports and provides hundreds of thousands of jobs for people both formally and informally employed in the sector.
While much of Mauritania's waters have been promised to Chinese vessels, that doesn't stop some companies from illegally fishing in areas reserved for local fishermen and engaging in unscrupulous business practices such as overfishing and fishing out of season.
The Chinese fleet has several fishing vessels equipped with advanced technology and techniques, while traditional Mauritanian fishermen with their artisanal tools are unable to compete for catches. Equipped with artisanal pirogues of minimal capacity and hand-woven nets, they have seen a sharp decline in their catches and a drop in their income.
On the maritime side of the Banc d'Arguin, close to the Atlantic Ocean, live a few Imraguens, a nomadic community also present in certain villages located between Nouadhibou and Nouakchott in Mauritanian territory. There, fishing is handed down from generation to generation. Ould Sidi (a pseudonym) is descended from a family of fishermen. In an interview with Global Voices, he soberly reflected on his future at a time when maritime activity was no longer bearing fruit.
I was born into a family where fishing is the only income-generating activity we practice. This activity has always brought in money for our family. But since our authorities signed this agreement with the Chinese, everything has gone to hell. We can spend days at sea and come back empty-handed, because the Chinese have already been there with their fleets. Octopus and yellow mullet, two species we fish, have disappeared. It's sad for our business.
Octopuses have long been an important hallmark of Mauritanian fishing. This creature, along with yellow mullet and other rare and very important fish species, have disappeared from local fishermen's radars since the arrival of Chinese fleets. This poses a serious threat not only to Mauritanian fisheries but also to the Atlantic Ocean as a whole, which is becoming depleted of certain fish stocks.
Traditionally, fishermen in Mauritania could stay close to the coast and bring in huge yields; however, nowadays, they have to venture into the deepwater to try and find fish. This costs more fuel and isn't even guaranteed to bring in enough catch.
While acknowledging China's considerable contribution to the industrialization of the sector, another fisherman who requests anonymity believes that the future of Mauritanian fishing is at risk. He adds:
As long as the Chinese are present in this sector, Mauritanian fishing is at a dead end. And the consequences will be very serious for the whole country if nothing is done. Today, with this agreement signed with China, Mauritanian fishermen are largely excluded and marginalized. What will become of local fishermen once this agreement has come to an end? The authorities need to change course and consider our contribution to the country's socio-economic development.
While traditionally, fish would be sold in fish markets and used to feed the community, for the new generation of industrial-scale fishers, this is not the case. Much of the fish caught off Mauritania's coasts is now being processed in foreign-owned factories that have been built on the country's 600-kilometer coast to make fishmeal, fish oil, and other byproducts, before they are shipped abroad. Fishmeal is a product made up of dried, ground fish, which is primarily used to feed animals at industrial farms.
In an interview with Southworld, Sheikh Muhammed Salim Biram, 69, said he thinks the government is at fault for the sharp drop in yield for local fishermen.
My neighbours come to me and complain because they haven’t caught anything. But what can I do against the government? They brought the Chinese into the country. They steal our fish and make meals for their pigs while our people don’t have enough to eat.
While Mauritanian fishermen speak of economic hardship and environmental strain, Chinese state media tells a strikingly different story — one of heroic expansion, mutual prosperity, and responsible development. Across official state publications such as Xinhua News Agency, People’s Daily, and China’s Belt and Road Portal, Chinese fishing enterprises are portrayed not only as modernizing forces, but as environmental stewards and community builders.
Chinese media frames this partnership between the two countries as a major success in their Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the state's international mega-development plan. “We sail along the new Silk Road,” Chinese fishing companies told state media People’s Daily. In the Belt and Road Portal, one interviewee described China's goals toward Mauritania as “Pursuing civilization across oceans.”
“Dense schools of fish swam near the coast,” Xinhua wrote in 2018, capturing the excitement of Chinese entrepreneurs discovering West African waters. The ocean was described as a “gifted land” for distant-water fisheries. But fifteen years later, local Mauritanian fishermen describe a very different ocean.
Instead of addressing the vanishing species, Mauritania is portrayed as being a land of “abundant resources,” with this state-funded Chinese Global Television Network (CGTN) Africa segment referring to it as “a haven for fishermen.”
These narratives, amplified by executives like Hongdong Fishery Chairman Lan Pingyong, project an image of China as a benevolent partner in Africa that offers locals opportunities and pathways to success — in stark contrast to local reports of resource depletion, exclusion, and unfulfilled promises.
In addition to complaints about ocean depletion, local Mauritanians have also noted Chinese companies’ over-extracting resources on land to fuel their development goals. Meanwhile, these actions are brushed away as “building infrastructure” from the Chinese side. One story published on the Belt and Road Portal read:
In the desert, we became builders before we became fishermen.
Chen Zhongjie, president of Hongdong Fishery, describes the company’s work constructing roads, cold storage units, a massive “friendship port,” and processing plants in Nouadhibou, recalling this period. He proudly noted that even water had to be trucked in from 10 kilometers away. Yet for many locals, these ambitious projects have failed to lift artisanal fishermen out of poverty or restore their access to coastal waters.
China is now perceived as the world’s top perpetrator of illegal fishing. The industrial giant has a track record of not respecting international fishing laws and regulations, and locals are demanding increased respect for the ocean and environmental restrictions. These rules, established to protect the oceans and their ecosystems from growing threats such as pollution, climate change, and overexploitation, are being trampled underfoot by the Chinese fishing industry.
On the shores of Banc d’Arguin, descendants of nomadic fishers face a shrinking future, with no seat at the negotiating table and few fish left to catch.
But this problem isn't isolated to Mauritania and is, in fact, widespread throughout West Africa, which has largely been dominated by foreign vessels — an estimated three-quarters of them Chinese.
For fishermen whose livelihoods have been disrupted, there are few options. Some move to the city to look for work there, others decide to work on Chinese fishing vessels, where living conditions are abysmal, and some choose to migrate to other countries in search of better job opportunities. In fact, the decline in the West African fishing industry has resulted in an increase in people trying to illegally cross into Europe — often with deadly results.
Unless a swift change is made in industrial fishing practices, fishermen in Mauritania will continue to suffer and could be forced to take increasingly drastic measures. [GlobalVoices/VP]