Importance de la pêche migrante ouest- africaine au début du XXIe siècle

The objective article is to present, for the first time, the importance of the West African migrant fishing outside national waters in the early 2010s. The quantification of catch volumes and their market value is the result of a long process of investigation in partnership with the organisms in charge of the fisheries research of each of the 7 members states of the Sub-Regional Fisheries Commission (SFRC). Overall, some 300 000t of fish are caught annually by the migrant units in third country waters, more than 35% of the total catch of the only units of the West African coastal countries (800 000t) and nearly 20% of the 1.6 million tonnes caught by all fleets. Despite this importance, national statistics are silent on the origin of these catches from the waters of neighboring country. West African fishing can therefore be considered as part of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing as defined by the United Nations. Failure to take it into account limits any intervention by the States and the SRFC to regulate fishing effort and thus the viability of the fish stocks, which is fundamental for the nutritional security of West African populations.