THE DISAPPEARING SENEGALESE SARDINES

The yaboy - already a dwindling resource - are being pulverized into fish oil and fishmeal, along with other small pelagic species like bonga and horse mackerel, for a powerful global feed industry, valued at $6.9 billion in 2019. Fishmeal factories are not new (Dakar has had one since the 1970s) but the demand for fishmeal and fish oil has rocketed in recent years, as an essential ingredient for farmed fish and animals, destined for export markets in China and Europe. Fish is valued, culturally embedded and popular - star of the national rice dish thiebodienne, the source of 70 per cent of protein, along with essential micronutrients: iron, calcium and vitamin A. The flavoursome yaboy, in particular, are known as the fish of the poor. After a public outcry, the only foreign boats licensed now are EU tuna fleets, but a loophole allows joint ventures, effectively allowing foreign interests - particularly Chinese - to exploit and export behind a Senegalese front.