Greenpeace welcomes cancellation of fishing rights by Senegal

Dakar, 4 May – (ANA) –Global environmental campaign group Greenpeace has welcomed the decision of the Senegalese government to cancel licenses of pelagic fishing vessels issued to 29 foreign trawlers from Russia, Comoros, Lithuania, Saint Vincent Grenadine and Belize. These kinds of licenses are a direct threat to employment and food security for millions of Senegalese who have been dependent on fishing for centuries, says Raoul Monsembula, Oceans Campaigner, Greenpeace. West Africa’s fish stocks are severely pressured by over-exploitation, mainly by destructive high-tech Russian, Asian and European vessels that can in a single day capture, process, and freeze 200-250 tons of fish. Greenpeace urges the government of Senegal to declare an emergency moratorium on the allocation of fishing licenses, as a sustainable policy has not yet been  defined. Greenpeace also calls on European governments and fisheries ministers  to support a new Common Fisheries Policy that tackles Europe???s bloated fleet  by scrapping the most destructive and oversized vessels, including factory trawlers operating in the waters of developing countries. (ANA)

FA/ANA/4 May 2012---------