Fishmeal and fish oil have been major demands for fishmeal factories in The Gambia and this has greatly upset local fishermen in the country’ coastal fishing villages. China is one country that is said to import 60% of fishmeal products to feed the vast numbers of fish farms.
Fishmeal products is also said to be imported by Norway, USA, Russia, Turkey and other countries as well.
Fish feed which is derived from flat sardinella, horse and chub mackerel and sardinella anchovy or bonga’, are typically used by fishmeal factories to produce feed for thousands of fish farms in Asia, Europe and Russia, and most of these farms are typically fed by fishmeal products from the Gambia and the sub-region.
Peru is also said to be another major haven for fishmeal factories.
Artisanal fisher folk whose livelihoods depend on selling and smoking fish in the country, have accused the fishmeal industries of over fishing and depleting the fish stock levels of the country, and have accused them of buying juvenile fish from some fisher folk.
In a recent published project by the NBC and Global reporting which covered China, Peru, Gambia and Senegal, 25% of fish caught in the waters of these countries do not land on their plates but are churned into fishmeal and fish oils to feed fish in other countries.
The report which includes comments by Yvonne Sadovy, a marine biologist and professor at Hong Kong University who has studied the South China Sea for more than 25 years, states that China has more than 32,000 square miles of fish farms in an area the size of South Carolina; adding that the demand for both fishmeal and so-called trash fish is putting increasing pressure on marine resources in these countries.
Sadovy and other experts warn that catching wild fish to feed farmed fish is an unsustainable practice that contributes to overfishing and will further deplete fish populations.
2019 Foroyaa Newspaper