Fish oil and fishmeal industry harming food security in west Africa, warns UN

Campaigners say the sector leads to overexploitation of stocks while pushing up prices and aggravating local unemployment

The UN's food agency has warned that the overexploitation" of fish in west Africa by the growing global fishmeal and fish oil industry is having a considerably negative impact" on food security, undermining the ability of local communities to feed themselves.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report said that in Senegal, where three more huge fishmeal factories opened between 2015 and 2019, the industry was likely increasing the risk" of overexploitation of sardinella and bonga, two pelagic fish on which communities depend.