Mauritania: An Emergent Giant in A Messy Business

On October 22, 2022, a tanker called the Key Bay picked up tens of thousands of tons of fish oil from the port of Nouadhibou in Mauritania. The ship carried the oil more than 3,000 miles to a port in Valsneset, Norway, delivering it to the Norwegian company Mowi, which is among the world’s biggest salmon producers.¹

This voyage was the focus of a scathing French documentary by Arte, which detailed the Norwegian salmon industry’s role in decimating Mauritanian fish stocks and threatening food security in the poor African nation. The film highlighted the stark ecological cost: Up to four kilograms of wild fish, such as sardinella, can be required to feed the production of a single kilogram of organic salmon.² This massive export demand has driven up the price of sardinella, a traditional dietary staple, making it unaffordable for local Mauritanian populations.

Roughly a year later, the flow of fish oil between Mauritania and Norway had only increased, and Mauritania’s fish stocks were even more in crisis. In January 2024, the Financial Times ran a virtually identical story to the Arte documentary. Tracing the very same ship carrying fish oil from Mauritania to Norway’s Mowi, the British newspaper again highlighted the ruinous nature of this commodity, citing “systematic rule-breaking” and “widespread corruption” in a trade that continued to steal nutrients from the African “region’s poorest.”³

Fishing and fishmeal processing in the port of Nouadhibou in 2021. Mauritania is a major player in the global “reduction industry,” the multi-billion-dollar sector that catches wild fish like menhaden, anchovies, krill, and sardines and converts them into feed for farmed seafood. Critics fault the industry for being an unsustainable use of marine life.The Arabic News

Despite the international media scrutiny and searing criticism from advocates and researchers, little had improved in Mauritania’s fishmeal and fish oil industry by 2024. The Mauritanian government continued to support the expansion of production with minimal oversight. At the same time, Norwegian salmon producers persisted in relying heavily on Mauritanian plants tied to pollution and food insecurity, which were often supplied by fishing ships engaged in unsustainable and illegal practices in Mauritanian waters.⁴

The Outlaw Ocean Project’s Bait-to-Plate tool was created to track the world’s fishing and seafood industries.^M The tool compiled news reports, government documents, trade records, and court filings to document issues reported between 2016 and 2024 concerning at least 16 Mauritanian plants that process fish oil and fishmeal, a lucrative dark-yellow liquid or powder made by cooking and pulverizing fish. These issues included reports of environmental violations and civil unrest.⁵ For example, plants were supplied by ships reportedly involved in unsustainable fishing on over 20 occasions, including targeting already overexploited fish species, operating industrially in zones reserved for artisanal fishing, and repeatedly exceeding fishmeal production quotas.⁶ The plants allegedly polluted the environment at least five times, often by dumping waste on nearby beaches and emitting noxious smoke that resulted in chronic health and respiratory issues among local populations.⁷ Ships supplying these factories were allegedly linked to at least 44 instances of illegal fishing, including suspected transshipment—a practice banned in Mauritanian waters that allows vessels to offload their catch to refrigerated carriers without returning to shore.⁸^M

Dive deeper — 1 of 3 in this report — Footnotes 9–28

Why the Sea Became a Protein Mine

The science of animal feed—combining corn, soy, grain, and other ingredients like fishmeal to raise livestock faster, more efficiently, and at a larger scale—was central to the rise of modern civilization.⁹ Techniques of animal husbandry developed roughly 12,000 years ago in the so-called “Fertile Crescent,” an ancient area stretching from Mesopotamia to Egypt.¹⁰ Alongside advancements like irrigation and the plough, the domestication of livestock was essential for humans to create the stable food supply that they needed to settle and eventually to develop cities.¹¹ Shifting from grazing to penning animals required farmers to provide them with balanced diets.¹²

Historically, marine life itself has experienced a conceptual shift. First, these creatures were animals that served mostly as sustenance for seabirds, marine mammals, and larger predatory fish, and, on a local scale, as food for humans. Next, they were seafood to be eaten by humans on an industrial and global scale. Then, with the rise of the reduction industry, marine creatures emerged as an ingredient in the form of flour, oil, or protein, destined as livestock feed.¹³ Ocean habitats became calorie factories.

Kristin A. Wintersteen explains how and when the modern world began using the sea as a protein mine.¹⁴ In her 2021 book, The Fishmeal Revolution, she chronicles how the Humboldt Current, a cold, nutrient-rich upwelling system that runs along the Pacific coast of South America, was reconceptualized from being a living marine ecosystem into a place to extract raw materials. This “revolution,” she explained, converted Peru into the fishmeal superpower it is today, now accounting for roughly a quarter of global production. This historical transformation made fishmeal the key ingredient that helped fuel the post-World War II expansion of industrial chicken, hog, and later fish farming—especially in the US and northern Europe. This shift, which has since extended far beyond the waters of Peru to include the coastline of West Africa, has also severed consumers from the ecological and human costs of production.¹⁵

Fishmeal and its rise as a staple feedstock have come with a variety of hidden costs that rarely show up on the balance sheets of the seafood companies that rely on it. These hidden costs, or what economists call “externalities,” are instead paid by the environment and by people who are far from where the seafood gets eaten.¹⁶ The oceans also pay an especially heavy and unseen toll from this industry. More than a fifth of all marine life pulled out of the water globally was swallowed up by the feed industry in 2022, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).¹⁷ Reduction fishing often relies on purse-seine or trawl nets that can trap large amounts of non-target fish, or bycatch, significantly impacting the ecosystem by removing key prey species.¹⁸ As such, the reduction industry represents a stark example of “fishing down the food web,” where fishing shifts toward smaller, less valuable species as larger, predatory fish stocks decline. The true cost of farmed fish is not what appears on the restaurant menu or the grocery store packaging.

Dead fish strewn along the roadway in Nouadhibou on November 28, 2024. The stench, air pollution, overfishing, and water pollution caused by this industry raise especially acute worries for a country that is already among Africa’s poorest.Zakia

Most fishmeal is used by the aquaculture industry. This is ironic since, historically, the global push toward aquaculture has been bolstered by the idea that farming fish on land lessens the need to take so many from the sea. Using fishmeal to feed fish farms, however, has turned this goal upside down, and fish farming is accelerating ocean depletion. The toughest challenge to farming carnivorous fish is feeding them. Food constitutes roughly 70 percent of this industry’s overhead, and so far, the only commercially viable form is fishmeal.¹⁹ The aquaculture farms that yield some of the most popular seafood, such as salmon, tuna, shrimp, carp, or European sea bass, often consume more fish than they ship to supermarkets and restaurants.²⁰ Before it gets to market, a farm-raised tuna, for example, can eat more than 15 times its weight in free-roaming fish that has been converted into fishmeal.²¹^M

Aquaculture has existed in rudimentary forms for centuries before it became industrialized on a large scale in the 1980s, and it has some clear benefits. Fish farming provides millions of people with year-round access to affordable protein.²² In India, aquaculture is a crucial source of jobs, especially for women.²³ In Bangladesh, fish farming has driven an overall decline in the price of fish, making it more accessible for lower-income households.²⁴ Even when feed—including ingredients like soy and fishmeal—and transport to the US are taken into account, some types of fish farming, such as tilapia and Atlantic salmon aquaculture, have lower greenhouse gas emissions per pound compared to beef and pork.²⁵ Farming bivalves, including clams, oysters, scallops, and mussels, is particularly sustainable: These species typically require no feed and use minimal land and freshwater.²⁶ They also produce shells that can function as a form of carbon capture, according to a 2020 Nature Food study.²⁷ As of 2022, roughly a third of global aquaculture did not require external feed inputs.²⁸

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Global South countries like those in West Africa also pay a high price. As of 2024, this region was among the world’s fastest-growing producers of fishmeal; more than 60 processing plants operated along the shores of Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, and The Gambia, collectively consuming an estimated half a million metric tons of fish a year.²⁹ In Mauritania, the fishmeal industry saw exponential growth, with the number of factories rising from three in 2007 to more than 50 active in 2024, and its fishmeal exports doubled between 2014 and 2018.³⁰ An estimated 550,000 metric tons of pelagic fish were caught in Mauritanian waters just to supply fishmeal plants in 2017 alone.³¹ That year, Mauritanian authorities announced plans to phase out fishmeal factories by 2020. Instead, production at the fishmeal factories tripled by 2020, according to the Coalition for Fair Fisheries Arrangements.³²^M

The Key Bay, a converted oil tanker owned by the Norwegian company Mowi, a major grower of farmed salmon. This ship and Norway’s use of fish oil to produce much of the world’s salmon have been the focus of critical news coverage for years, quite often faulting the industry for its role in depleting Mauritanian fish stocks and food security.Inghe Fuhles/Marine Traffic

At least four species are targeted for fishmeal in Mauritania: bonga shad, round and flat sardinella, and sardines. The country’s fishmeal production has severely jeopardized the health of these species in local waters. The FAO classified bonga shad, round sardinella, and flat sardinella as “overexploited” and “declining” throughout Northwest Africa in 2021.³³ The poor status of these stocks has contributed to other problems, including food insecurity, according to a story by the Dutch publication de Volkskrant.³⁴^M Mustapha Manneh, a researcher based in The Gambia, specializing in West Africa fishmeal and fish oil production, added that one consequence of failing fish stocks and job displacement caused by the fishmeal industry is migration. Many families who, for generations, have made a living from fishing are now selling or using their fishing boats to flee to Europe, Manneh explained.

In hopes of better protecting its waters and its food security, the Mauritanian government announced in May 2021 that it was prohibiting the use of whole round sardinella in fishmeal or fish oil.³⁵ However, Mauritanian fishmeal plants continued to process banned fish into fishmeal at high rates, according to a 2021 report from the Mauritanian Pelagic Fisheries Improvement Project. Researchers analyzed 4,637 tons of fish from dozens of boats tied to 17 fishmeal plants. Testing a portion of the catch, they found that roughly 22 percent consisted of round sardinella, and around 33 percent was flat sardinella, also banned from use in fishmeal plants.³⁶

Wild anchoveta are rendered into fishmeal, then fed to farmed species.Farmed species are not shown at relative size.

In 2022, the FAO’s regional fisheries body warned of a “critical situation” for small pelagic stocks, and the organization called for an immediate 60 percent reduction in fishing effort for both round and flat sardinella.³⁷ Scientists also pointed to climate change stress: Waters off northern Senegal and Mauritania were warming unusually fast, altering sardinella distribution.³⁸ By 2023, round sardinella and flat sardinella were still “in a critical situation marked by heavy overexploitation,” according to the FAO in a report from that year.³⁹ This meant that the fish continued to be caught faster than they could reproduce.

In 2023, the government in Mauritania took additional steps to better control the industry and protect its waters. It banned all species except sardines from fishmeal plants, and at least 20 percent of the sardines caught were to go toward human consumption.⁴⁰ Interviews with local residents indicated these measures were not working, according to a 2023 report by Partner Africa.⁴¹

Dive deeper — 2 of 3 in this report — Footnotes 42–72

Fishmeal Sustainability: Walking North on a Southbound Train

As the planet’s population has grown, so too has competition for key nutrients. Countries are struggling to reduce their reliance on imported meat in a bid toward “protein sovereignty.”⁴² Investors are chasing alternative protein sources like plant-based or lab-cultivated meat. Disruptions such as the avian flu and the Russia-Ukraine War have led to sharp jumps in meat prices, casting new focus on the interconnectedness and volatility of these commodity markets. “With increasing frequency, wealthy, food-importing countries and private investors are acquiring farmland overseas,” said a report from the Wilson International Center titled “Land Grab? The Race for the World’s Farmland,” explaining that many of these purchases are for the sake of growing more food.⁴³

Fishers draw in nets in the waters off the coast of Mauritania in November 2024.@WorldWonders-gl6dx on YouTube

In the context of this global fight for prized resources, feed represents a hidden battle behind the broader war. Competition is especially fierce for crops, particularly soy, that are fed to livestock. “China, the US, and Brazil are the world’s three largest producers of meat by far, and they all rely on and are bound together by one commodity: the soybean,” said a 2024 podcast by Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.⁴⁴ “In 2024, US-China trade tensions are mostly centered on high-tech products like semiconductors or critical minerals. But in 2018, one of the first battlegrounds for these superpowers was the soybean.”⁴⁵ As with soy, the scramble for fishmeal and fish oil is fueled by the same geopolitical desires for sovereignty and control over vital resources. And yet, this contest is happening not on land but at sea, where there is far less focus from journalists, governments, and environmental or human rights advocates.

The fishmeal and fish oil industry has been widely criticized for “food colonialism” because it redirects vital sources of protein from people who need it most and instead feeds it to livestock in richer countries for luxury products like salmon and shrimp.⁴⁶

Seafood has historically played a smaller role in Mauritanian diets than in those of other West African countries.⁴⁷ But in the past two decades, drought, diseases, and conflicts over access to pastures have decreased the availability of meat in Mauritania, while increasing demand for alternative protein sources such as seafood, according to a paper in the journal Sustainability. Between 2008 and 2022, the average amount of seafood eaten annually per person in Mauritania rose from 28 to 50 pounds.⁴⁸ At least a fourth of Mauritania’s population lived below the national poverty line as of 2021.⁴⁹ Sardinella, one of the main species targeted for fishmeal, has typically been eaten by lower-income communities, according to “Track the Fish,” a 2023 report by Partner Africa.⁵⁰

The fishmeal industry and aquaculture industries have made a variety of arguments about their sustainability. For example, the IFFO, which is the international fishmeal association, has emphasized that its “role is not to advise which markets should use fishmeal and fish oil.”⁵¹ Véronique Jamin, a spokesperson from the organization, said that fish farming is “the most efficient animal protein system” and “is becoming more efficient over time, not less: lower inclusion rates of fishmeal/oil, higher digestibility of alternative ingredients, better feed formulation through precision nutrition.”⁵² She added: “Sustainability frameworks won’t work if they ignore real-world economics,” and seafood companies have to respond to “what people actually want to buy and eat.”⁵³

Ocean researchers and marine historians, however, offer a different view about global demand for fishmeal and farmed fish.⁵⁴ First, they contend that it was the aquaculture industry itself that is driving increased demand for farmed fish. "Classic market economics explains that making a resource cheaper and more efficient does not curb its use; it increases it," said a 2026 report by the Aquaculture Accountability Project. "Instead of meeting a preexisting need, confining hundreds of thousands or millions of fish in net pens to produce cheap seafood has created what economists call ‘supply-driven demand.’”⁵⁵ A 2024 study by Science Advances furthered this point: Aquaculture companies have “driven an increase in demand for salmon, rather than having simply met a pre-existing demand.” The research concluded that the aquaculture industry has exponentially increased the supply of affordable “premium” fish like salmon, leading to higher demand, the opposite of its claim to be meeting an existing need.⁵⁶

In defense of its sustainability, the feed industry has also emphasized that it is decreasing its reliance on fishmeal and fish oil, and especially on the use of whole fish or fish that can be eaten by people. Over 58 percent of fishmeal and fish oil globally comes from whole fish in 2026, according to international fishmeal association data. At least 90 percent of the fresh fish turned into fishmeal and fish oil is food-grade, edible to humans, according to a 2017 study published in the Fish and Fisheries journal.⁵⁷ The IFFO has said on its website that between 2000 and 2020, the proportion of fishmeal in aquaculture feed at fish farms globally decreased from 23 percent to eight percent.⁵⁸ Some experts have predicted, however, that the total amount of global fishmeal production could rise by nearly 10 percent between 2022 and 2032, mostly from trimmings—fish offcuts not suitable for human consumption—according to the FAO.⁵⁹ Overall demand for fishmeal also seems to be increasing.⁶⁰ Five of the world’s largest salmon companies, for instance, increased their absolute use of fishmeal and fish oil made from whole wild fish by as much as 39 percent between 2020 and 2024, according to a report from the Farm Animal Investment Risk and Return Initiative.⁶¹

Meanwhile, global fishmeal supplies could be tapped out as soon as 2028, according to Novel Sharma, a Rabobank analyst specializing in seafood and aquaculture.⁶² “A shortage is inevitable,” the report said.⁶³ This means that the industry's claims about the supply, demand, and sustainability of fishmeal require broader context. While individual sectors or companies may be decreasing their use of fishmeal, the overall industry is not likely decreasing at a rate that makes it sustainable. The industry’s claims, then, resemble someone walking north on a southbound train: Individual actors may be moving in the right direction, but not nearly fast enough to change the outcome.

The conservation status of fish used by the fishmeal industry in Mauritania.

Bonga shad (Ethmalosa fimbriata)
^Source
Round sardinella (Sardinella aurita)
^Source
Flat sardinella (Sardinella maderensis)
^Source
Sardines / European Pilchard (Sardina pilchardus)
^Source

Overfished, overexploited, collapsed, or at a critical level

Assessing the climate impact of carnivorous fish farming is also complicated.⁶⁴ The industry markets aquaculture seafood as a climate-friendly protein source.⁶⁵ However, its true carbon cost is sometimes obscured by selective accounting, particularly the omission of fishmeal production, which accounts for at least half of industry emissions.⁶⁶ Comparing the climate impact of food per pound can also make farmed fish appear artificially more efficient, but one pound of water-dense cod provides only a third of the calories of one pound of pork, distorting the reality of consumption.⁶⁷ Meanwhile, over 165 million metric tons of CO2—equivalent to the annual emissions from all passenger cars in the UK—have been released into the atmosphere as mangroves and seagrass beds have been destroyed to make way for the global expansion of coastal fish farms, further undermining long-term carbon storage.⁶⁸ When emissions from fishmeal, habitat loss, and global supply chains are accounted for, catfish and other intensive aquaculture products can rival or exceed poultry and pork in total climate impact, according to a 2018 Science study.⁶⁹

Bill McKibben, a climate-change expert and author of Here Comes the Sun, said that hope is not lost, especially looking at promising trends tied to even some of the most intransigent global systems like fossil fuels.⁷⁰ Between 2022 and 2024, the world nearly doubled its solar power capacity from two to three terawatts, and it was on track to increase by another three terawatts by the end of 2026. As of 2025, solar was growing faster than any other power source in history. The shift was largely driven by developments in the 2020s that enabled solar power, for the first time, to become cheaper than fossil fuels. China, Pakistan, and several countries across Africa led the charge to divest from distant supplies of oil and natural gas and take up local supplies of sun and wind.⁷¹ “If it can happen with energy, it can happen with food,” McKibben explained, adding that a relocalization of aquaculture, which pushes toward sustainable species like mollusks and away from those that rely on feed sources like fishmeal, is possible if international demand for things like salmon or shrimp decreases.⁷²

People working near the port of Nouadhibou in Mauritania in January 2025. The region is home to artisanal fishers who face increasing competition from industrial fishers supplying dozens of nearby fishmeal plants.@lismarq on YouTube

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In an effort to shield the industry from scrutiny, the Mauritanian government has sought to suppress reports of systemic misconduct. On July 22, 2025, Ali Bakar, an environmental advocate and former observer of industrial fishing, utilized Facebook to highlight suspicious activity by the Muammer Yilmaz, a Turkish vessel supplying local fishmeal plants. Bakar alleged that the ship was obscuring its location to operate within the protected waters of the Banc d'Arguin National Park, noting that such maneuvers suggested it was "very likely to be involved in an illegal hunting activity." Following the post, police arrived at Bakar's residence in Nouadhibou and detained him on charges of treason for purportedly "undermining the interests of the state." After being held for two months, Bakar was released amid significant pressure from international advocacy groups. Despite the state's actions, his claims regarding the vessel's incursions into the nature reserve were later supported by satellite imagery and video evidence from other captains operating in the region.⁷³

Workers on Mauritanian fishing ships described ways that ship operators circumvented such rules, including by keeping ships at sea for longer so their catch would rot and become inedible for human consumption. At that point, it could only be delivered to fishmeal plants, according to the report. Turkish boats used tubes with blades inside that cut up the fish so that it too became unsuitable for human consumption, according to interviews with the Financial Times. Several workers said there was no sorting at the fishmeal and fish oil plants, which meant that banned fish was mixed with sardines to make the fishmeal or oil.⁷⁴ These factories operated with little oversight, especially after the Mauritanian government put plans on hold to run an environmental audit of factories, despite the World Bank’s offer to finance the process through its West Africa Coastal Areas Management Programme.⁷⁵^M

Footage from various fishmeal plants in Nouadhibou, Mauritania between 2022 and 2026 by workers and advocates and provided to the Outlaw Ocean Project.The Outlaw Ocean Project/Ali Bakar

Most of the country’s fishmeal catch comes from chartered or contracted small wooden canoes called pirogues—mainly purse seines from Senegal—as well as other bigger industrial boats. In 2019, there were a total of 204 pirogues and 77 industrial ships supplying fishmeal and fish oil factories, according to the FAO.⁷⁶ Many of the industrial fishing boats were Turkish or Chinese.⁷⁷ Foreign boats can operate in Mauritania if they are chartered by Mauritanians with fishing licenses from the government.⁷⁸

Among the industrial ships tied to Mauritanian fishmeal, many are bottom trawlers, which tow nets that can be hundreds of feet wide along the ocean floor. Bottom trawling is a particularly destructive form of fishing because of its bluntness. Anything in the net’s path—including non-target species, coral reefs, and dolphins—is swept up, often fatally. Between 2019 and 2024, over a dozen vessels supplying fishmeal to plants in Mauritania likely bottom trawled for more than a combined 4,100 days, according to an analysis by the ocean monitoring firm Global Fishing Watch.⁷⁹

Mauritanian fishing companies have historically benefited from government support. Mauritania gave at least $28 million in harmful subsidies to its fishing industry in 2018, according to a study by the University of British Columbia.⁸⁰ Fishing subsidies are controversial because many researchers say that they can put too many fishing ships on the water, which accelerates overfishing.⁸¹ By 2022, Mauritania stopped providing subsidies directly to fishing companies. However, the National Federation of Fisheries collected more than $26 million that year for a fund that subsidized the price of fuel for all consumers. The fund was financed by a levy on exports.⁸²

Governments around the world took one step toward ending this practice when an agreement on fisheries subsidies passed by the World Trade Organization (WTO), of which Mauritania is a member, entered into force in 2025. Under this agreement, member states pledged to ban subsidies that contributed to unregulated or illegal fishing and the targeting of overfished stocks.⁸³

The Tian Ye He 6, a Chinese fishmeal factory ship tied to a plant named Africa Protein, in port in Mauritania in 2023. China is the world’s largest importer of fishmeal, in part due to its effort to grow its aquaculture industry.Daniel A. on LinkedIn

Fishmeal plants in Mauritania primarily use fish from an area of near-shore waters covered by the Fishery Improvement Project (FIP) called “Mauritanian Small Pelagics – Purse Seine.” This program uses the incentive of certification and associated market access to better the social and ecological sustainability of a fishery.⁸⁴ The nine factories participating in the FIP as of 2025 present themselves as responsible stakeholders working to improve the fishery.⁸⁵^M

However, critics question whether this FIP is more of a marketing ploy than an actual effort to strengthen management. The fishmeal industry in Mauritania joined the Small Pelagics FIP in 2017. But by 2024, sardines—among the main species in this fishery—were classed as overexploited in one of the fishery’s zones, according to an article in Fisheries Improvement Project News.⁸⁶ Furthermore, the sardine or “European pilchard” fishery was also tied to “serious management issues” due to apparent illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, according to a report by Sustainable Fisheries Partnership.⁸⁷ The lack of improvement and the broader worsening state of Mauritania’s stocks are the reason that critics from the Coalition for Fair Fisheries Arrangements say that this “improvement” program has not pushed the country toward actual improvement.⁸⁸

Dive deeper — 3 of 3 in this report — Footnotes 89–108

Certification & The Growing Risk of False Advertising

As the production of seafood has become more globalized, its supply chains have stretched longer, and it has become tougher for consumers to know how it was produced and whether it was harvested sustainably, safely, legally, or ethically.⁸⁹ Most grocers who sell the seafood are in the dark as well. Partly, because tracking seafood is unusually difficult and costly. The other reason may be plausible deniability. Companies can escape blame or the need to fix problems if they are unaware of them.

Where government regulators in Mauritania have proven lacking in managing fish stocks, industry-led certification programs have sought to fill the gap. These programs claim to provide assurances that the supply chains connecting Mauritania’s fishmeal industry to seafood buyers elsewhere in the world are free from ships or plants that engage in unsustainable, illegal, or unethical practices.^M But critics say that these programs serve as sustainability smokescreens because their purview is not broad enough. As a result, questionable practices farther up the supply chain get overlooked.⁹⁰

Various researchers and advocates have concluded that seafood certification programs suffer from systemic flaws. For instance, Allie Brudney, a senior staff attorney at Corporate Accountability Lab, a strategic litigation non-profit organization, said that on land, at processing plants, or on farms, certification programs rarely conduct true spot checks to authenticate the reassurances given by managers at the factories.⁹¹ Instead, the programs frequently alert companies before inspectors show up, which gives them a chance to clean up the scene so there are no violations. At sea, these programs also often rely on self-reported information from ship captains rather than having auditors directly visit and check conditions offshore on vessels, where crimes are most common. The programs are rife with conflicts of interest, since they are typically funded by the companies that they are supposed to police, Brudney added.⁹²

A pipe runs from China-owned fishmeal plant Sunrise Oceanic Resources into the sea in Nouadhibou, in January 2024. That year, the country hosted at least 40 fishmeal plants. Critics say sustainability certifications for farmed seafood rarely examine the environmental and labor impacts of the feed supply chain.Zakia

Certification programs also do not track seafood fully through the entire supply chain, which can result in inaccurate reassurances for consumers. “Without the chain of custody, standards are not able to provide an assurance to organisational buyers and consumers that the fish they are buying was caught in the socially responsible way they are purporting,” according to a 2022 study by the University of Nottingham.⁹³^M To properly trace aquaculture seafood would require knowing not just what happens at the fish farm but what goes into the feed supplied to the farm. This would entail following fishmeal and fish oil through five stages: from ship to plant to mill to farm to fork. Usually, a ship catches the fish that gets sent to the plant that turns it into oil, powder, or pellets.^M The fishmeal is then sent to a mill, where it is mixed with other ingredients, like soy, wheat, and canola meal, to become “compound feed.”⁹⁴ Next, the feed gets distributed to fish farms that grow the seafood, which is finally dispatched to grocery stores, restaurant chains, or food service companies. Many of these problems have been highlighted by academic and NGO studies, including a 2020 report by Changing Markets Foundation and a 2020 report by the University of Groningen.⁹⁵

Skepticism

Food safety is another concern tied to the lack of seafood tracing. Food writer Michael Pollan said that aside from climate change and sustainability concerns, there are also intense food-safety problems buried within feed. “We are what we eat, but that’s only part of the story,” he said. “We are what what we eat eats too.” This was the case with beef, which, until mad cow disease, was routinely fed to other cattle. Cows are still fed fertilizer, chicken feces, and cow blood. “I’m imagining we know even less about what goes into fish feed than we do about cattle feed,” Pollan said.⁹⁶

Sara Lewis, director of programs for FishWise, a sustainability and labor non-profit organization, explained that one of the reasons these programs are flawed stems from how they were initiated. She said that aquaculture certification programs were designed on the heels of those that previously focused on wild catch and were not sufficiently tailored. “Though the intentions were to model aquaculture certifications on the wild certifications of a decade before, aquaculture has the tricky problem of needing to account for feed origins that wild fishery certifications don’t,” she said.⁹⁷

Meaning & Methods of Improvement

Five certification programs are most popular in relation to aquaculture seafood. They include Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) and Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), which concentrate on the sustainability and legality of fish farming; MarinTrust, which focuses on the processing and traceability of fishmeal and fish oil; and Friend of the Sea, which certifies both fisheries and fishmeal and fish oil processors.⁹⁸ Countries also rely on Fishery Improvement Projects (FIPs), which aim to improve the management of participating fisheries.^M

In response to questions from The Outlaw Ocean Project, the various organizations that make up the certification industry emphasized that each plays its own role and cannot be held accountable for others’ responsibilities.⁹⁹

MarinTrust, for instance, emphasized that its program is not meant to be the “lone driver” but a “credible partner” to governments and NGOs. Regarding labor abuse, spokesperson Libby Woodhatch said MarinTrust’s purpose is strictly to check whether factories comply with national regulations and UN labor conventions.¹⁰⁰ ASC spokesperson Gaynyr Dickson added that “certification alone cannot resolve all issues related to the industry” and that ASC does not police labor standards directly. Instead, it relies on fish farms to get their feed from mills that have themselves been certified by other organizations. When asked if the program checks for sustainability problems with feed mills and their fishmeal producers, Dickson said they put that responsibility on the feed mills to do their own “due diligence.”¹⁰¹ Paolo Bray, the founder of Friend of the Sea, similarly stated that his organization does not directly audit ships for labor concerns but relies on independent auditing firms that are supposed to talk to workers in port and review CCTV footage.¹⁰² The Global Seafood Alliance, which runs the BAP program, wrote that it is the industry’s “most comprehensive program for farmed seafood” but is also “removed from the auditing and certification decision process,” which is executed instead by third-party auditors.¹⁰³

Division of labor exists in every industry, though some critics say that its stakes are higher in the certification industry. “The business model is simple,” said a 2025 report from Western Sahara Resource Watch. Exporters pay for certificates, certification bodies issue them, and standard owners license them. "But when things go awry, auditors blame standards, standards blame auditors, both depend financially on the companies they are supposed to control, and almost no one answers questions, the report said. “Everyone gets paid, and when problems emerge, everyone points elsewhere.”¹⁰⁴

Certification programs are popular partly because they provide reassurances that allow importers, exporters, and retailers to raise their prices, lessen their legal risk, and attract more investment.¹⁰⁵ Companies have a financial incentive to believe the reassurances passed along by certifications and by associates up the chain. The boat captains, fishery officials, fishmeal plant operators, feed mills, fish farmers, seafood brands, restaurateurs, grocers, and even the insurers, banks, and certifiers make up an industry full of stakeholders who receive and hand down such reassurances. Quite often, a compounding confidence snowballs from certifications to marketing claims. Based on their certifications, seafood sellers advertise themselves as more ethical than their competitors.^M

The market demand for superficial signs of compliance creates a powerful incentive for producers. Fishmeal factories in West Africa often do whatever they can to get into FIPs, certification programs, or industry roundtables in order to get access to premium retailers in the European markets. Aquafeed giants Cargill, Skretting, and BioMar, some of the world’s biggest suppliers of salmon feed, are represented in all three. They also sit on oversight committees of the certification program MarinTrust. The three companies are actively sourcing fish oil from West Africa, despite its pelagic fishery not yet being certified as sustainably managed. All have plans to expand aquafeed production, which will continue to cause issues for local communities.¹⁰⁶

Small wooden pirogues sit in port and navigate at sea near industrial fishing vessels in Mauritania. The economic equation for Mauritania’s fishmeal industry is highly unbalanced, with most jobs temporary and held by foreign workers, according to a study by the Food and Agriculture Organization.CFFA-CAPE

Diminishing Deniability?

Seafood companies may face increasing legal challenges to problems within their supply chains. Historically, such companies have, intentionally or unintentionally, distanced themselves from the behaviors of their subcontractors and suppliers abroad, thereby avoiding culpability for the role of bad actors. A case brought in March 2025 by four Indonesian fishers against the canned-tuna giant Bumble Bee concerning the use of forced labor on fishing ships tied to the company could pierce that veil of plausible deniability.¹⁰⁷ The fishers sued the company in the Southern District of California for violating the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA). The company argued in court documents that it was not responsible for the actions of the relevant fishing ships. In a landmark ruling, the district court allowed the lawsuit to move forward, finding that Bumble Bee “likely had ‘notice about the prevalence’ of forced labor on the vessels from which it sourced tuna, ‘failed to take adequate steps to train staff in order to prevent its occurrence’,” had an “active role in obtaining albacore tuna from the vessels on which Plaintiffs were subject to forced labor,” and resold such procured tuna for profit. Bumble Bee did not respond to a request for comment.¹⁰⁸

Plumes of black smoke rise from fishmeal factories in Nouadhibou in April 2024. The city hosts dozens of plants, and reports have documented air and coastal pollution linked to fishmeal production.Sadami Hamoud on Facebook

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“Rather than being simply a means of obtaining an eco-label, the simple fact to engage in a FIP has now become an award itself, formalised and legitimate, for seafood companies to exploit for marketing purposes,” the coalition said. “NGOs are handing out positive grades for sustainability to companies that have only committed to being sustainable in the future. Whether they are sustainable or not does not matter; all that matters is that they are signed up to a FIP.”¹⁰⁹^M

Some ocean conservationists and labor groups have called for seafood companies and grocery chains to stop sourcing from companies or regions like India, West Africa, or Norway, tied to labor, food safety, or sustainability concerns.¹¹⁰ Spokespeople from several seafood certification programs disagreed with this perspective, arguing that a carrot-rather-than-stick approach is best for improving the industry. For example, Dave Martin, a spokesperson for the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, which founded Fisheries Improvement Projects, said, “We ask our partners and those we work with around the world to stay and help fix the problems.” He added, “Fisheries in FIPs are by definition unsustainable,” which is why they are in the program.

Asked by The Outlaw Ocean Project why, according to his organization’s own assessment, half of the fisheries reviewed had in recent years dropped into a “poorly managed” category, Martin cited two studies showing that fishery improvement projects help. He also pointed to factors that improvement programs cannot control, such as the performance of government regulators. In regions where governments have rolled back regulations and cut spending toward counting fish and enforcing quotas, Martin said his organization pushes for companies to play a larger role in preventing overfishing.¹¹¹

The Mauritanian government and fishmeal companies have struggled to verify that the ships supplying the country’s fishmeal plants are obeying the law. Fishing vessel captains sometimes turn off their Automatic Identification System (AIS) locational transponders and “go dark,” which marine researchers say can be an indicator of illegal fishing. An order from the Mauritanian Fisheries Ministry mandated that all vessels in Mauritanian waters must transmit their locations using a satellite tracking beacon.¹¹² However, at least three ships in the Mauritanian fishmeal fleet turned off their locational transponder for more than a week while fishing in national waters, according to a review of incidents during five years ending in February 2025, conducted by the maritime research firm Skylight. One of those ships, the Wafa 5, once turned off its transponder for over a month. This ship was chartered by Omaurci, which also operates a fishmeal plant in Mauritania.¹¹³^M Omaurci’s parent company, Mauritania Pelagic, did not respond to a request for comment.¹¹⁴

In hopes of drawing more revenue from fishing, the Mauritanian government requires all catch from its waters to be landed in the country’s ports, according to a report by Partner Africa, a civil society group.¹¹⁵ Many ships ignore this rule. At least 50 fishmeal vessels likely transshipped between 2019 and 2024, as seen in data from the maritime tracking firm Allen Institute for AI.¹¹⁶ Tracking ships from Mauritania’s fishmeal fleet is additionally difficult because at least 12 of them lack International Maritime Organization (IMO) numbers, which are required by the United Nations agency, and at least 40 of this fleet’s ships are also not registered on the FAO Global Record, a database that the international community uses to monitor ships.¹¹⁷^M

Outside the Mah El Turk fishmeal factory in Nouadhibou in 2021.The Arabic News

The Mauritanian government has also made controversial exceptions to the rule that fish is supposed to be landed and processed domestically. For example, there is an agreement with the Chinese company, Fuzhou Hong Dong Pelagic Fishery, which has a fleet of 83 vessels, that allows it to fish and transform directly in its own facilities.¹¹⁸ This exception was granted in 2010 for 25 years, in exchange for the company investing $100 million and promising to employ 2,000 Mauritanian nationals. “The deal has since been under investigation for suspicion of corruption by the Mauritanian parliament. The Chinese company’s trawlers were also implicated in the deaths of Mauritanian artisanal fishers in 2020,” according to a 2023 report from Partner Africa.¹¹⁹

As of 2025, the promised $100 million investment has not materialized, according to Andre Standing, a fishery expert who has researched Hong Dong. Hong Dong did not respond to a request for comment.¹²⁰

Another major problem with fishmeal exported from Mauritania is that it is often derived from catch pulled from the waters of Western Sahara, a nation located just to the north.¹²¹ This makes the fishmeal illegal, as Morocco has militarily occupied Western Sahara since the mid-1970s. Over 100 rulings by international bodies, including the United Nations and the European Union, have concluded that Morocco—or any other foreign government—has no legal right to extract resources from its waters.¹²² Nonetheless, fish remains one of the region’s most valuable resources, and Mauritanian ships routinely fish in Western Saharan waters, sometimes landing their catch there before trucking it across the southern border for export.¹²³^M

In November 2020, dozens of peaceful Sahrawi protesters blocked a remote section of coastal highway. Moroccan troops broke up the blockade by opening fire on the crowd, according to an account by the Polisario Front, a pro-independence group.¹²⁴^M

The waters near Nouadhibou are historically rich in marine life and are a haven for huge numbers of artisanal boats. Many of these boats now feed the fishmeal industry for export rather than supplying cheap sustenance to coastal communities. The fishmeal industry has a history of dumping rotten fish along the beach and releasing toxic effluent into waterways and the ocean.The Arabic News

Air and water pollution remain an acute concern in Mauritania. On one occasion in 2024, for example, elderly residents reported shortness of breath after the nearby fishmeal plant, Alfa Service, emitted plumes of thick black smoke.¹²⁵ On another occasion that same year, activists recorded a beach covered in nets and plastic near the Sunrise Oceanic plant.¹²⁶ Alfa Service and Sunrise Oceanic did not respond to a request for comment.¹²⁷

The stench from the plants is more than just a nuisance for people living nearby. It corrodes the local economy by undercutting tourism and scaring away restaurant patrons and beach visitors. The foul smell is also an indicator of the release of noxious chemicals like ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, cyanide, and methane, which have been known to contribute to higher levels of serious health problems, including nausea, pulmonary edema, and even death among plant workers and neighbors.¹²⁸

The worst part of the odor comes from trimethylamine, or TMA, a colorless gas characterized by a “fishy” smell. In 2021, the Society of Chemical Industry identified TMA as “strongly toxic and carcinogenic.”¹²⁹ More than 56,000 people, over 16,100 of them under the age of 15, live within a mile of fishmeal plants in Mauritania, according to The Outlaw Ocean Project’s Bait-to-Plate tool.¹³⁰^M

The Outlaw Ocean Project reporting inside the Mah Al-Turk fishmeal plant in Mauritania in August 2026.The Outlaw Ocean Project

A 2020 story from the Atlas News Agency suggested a link between the fishmeal industry in Nouadhibou and an uptick in rates of disease, asthma, mouth and throat illnesses, miscarriages, and newborn mortality.¹³¹ The article also cited negligence by the Minister of Fisheries and Maritime Economy and the Nouadhibou Free Zone Authority. A 2021 film by Arabic News discussed a variety of problems caused by these plants, including the displacement of local residents due to air and water pollution.¹³²^M The Ministry of Fisheries and Maritime Economy and the Nouadhibou Free Zone Authority did not respond to a request for comment.¹³³

The concentration of fishmeal plants in Nouadhibou has led to local air being “laced with toxic particles and the putrid smell of fishmeal production” and coastal waters polluted by plant waste and effluent, according to a 2021 report published in the Global Atlas of Environmental Justice, which cited 32 plants in the area.¹³⁴^M

The Moka fishmeal plant in Nouadhibou emits black smoke in April 2024. The most common problem cited by people living near fishmeal plants is the stench and air pollution caused by the burning of thousands of tons of rotting fish. Though stench is often viewed as only a nuisance, the chemical that causes the stench is a carcinogen, and the smell can tank the local economy by driving away tourists.Akhbar Al-Youm

A 2022 report from the FAO found that severe health problems caused by the smoke from the dozens of fishmeal plants were an especially pervasive issue.¹³⁵ “Incidents of various diseases, such as rhinitis, cough, asthma, diarrhea and nausea, have increased, as reported by local populations and technical staff,” the UN organization report said. “Additionally, poorly equipped factory workers and most artisanal processors who provide processing wastes for raw materials experience high exposure to such diseases and also suffer from frequent injuries.”

In 2023, fishers and community members interviewed by Partner Africa in Mauritania told the researchers that fishmeal factories were releasing untreated water into the ocean, which was linked with cases of “diarrhea, vomiting, and nausea” among locals.¹³⁶ Researchers interviewed over 200 factory managers, workers, fishers, residents, and government regulators in several West African countries and reported that “100 percent of the stakeholders in Mauritania” indicated that smoke from the plants was having adverse health impacts.¹³⁷

Scientists have also documented the role of fishmeal plants in polluting local waters. A study published in a peer-reviewed article from Nature Environment and Pollution Technology in 2023 used various parameters to detail the impact of untreated fishmeal factory discharges in the Bountiya sector of Levrier Bay in Nouadhibou.¹³⁸ These discharges led to “reduced oxygen levels in the sea waters at the ocean bottom, burial or smothering of living organisms, and introduction of disease or non-native and invasive species to the ecosystem of the sea floor,” the study found. The article added that fishmeal waste contributed to high levels of phosphorus and nitrogen in these waters, leading to algae proliferation.

The Mauritanian government has failed to enforce its own rules regulating the plants. When investigators from the research organization Rampao interviewed officials and plant managers in Senegal, The Gambia, and Mauritania, they found that environmental and social impact assessments, which were typically required in other countries, had not been completed in many cases. This gap in policy contributed to popular skepticism and pushback against the factories, the Rampao report concluded. When consultations did occur before factories were built, they typically favored the voices of local authorities such as mayors, village chiefs, imams, and notables, while other stakeholders like youth, environmental, labor, or secular community leaders had far less input, the report said.¹³⁹

Workers move piles of fish with wheelbarrows in Nouakchott, Mauritania, in April 2023. The fishmeal industry has expanded rapidly in many Global South countries, where weaker enforcement and low processing costs make large-scale production easier.Zakia

The economic equation for Mauritania’s fishmeal industry is highly unbalanced. While a 2022 FAO study showed an increase in industry jobs, which collectively employed roughly 2,000 people, the benefits are immediately undercut by social and economic detriments.¹⁴⁰ A large proportion of these jobs are temporary and are most often allocated to foreigners; for instance, a 2024 Rampao study found that workers are “Senegalese, Chinese and Turkish nationals who work not only on chartered pirogues and fishing boats, but also within the factories themselves.”¹⁴¹ This marginal local employment, along with tax revenue, struggles to outweigh the negative impacts like air and water pollution, lost tourism, food deprivation, and job loss in the artisanal fishing sector.¹⁴²^M

Prices in Mauritania for sardinella have risen in recent years from roughly 26 cents per kilogram to $1.60 per kilogram, according to the 2023 “Track the Fish” report by Partner Africa. The increase is due to the fact that more catch continues to go toward the fishmeal and fish oil industry and export markets “as they pay higher prices, leaving the local market poorly supplied,” the report said.¹⁴³

The industry also creates a high risk of debt bondage among local fishers. Partner Africa reported that over a third of operating fishing boats—both artisanal pirogues and larger purse seiners—have their food, drink, bait, and gas expenses paid upfront by factory operators or fishmongers. In return, the fisher is obligated to sell the catch at a pre-arranged price, essentially working to pay off the debt for little or no money.¹⁴⁴

The presence of large and foreign-owned industrial fishing ships has caused concern. The Margiris is a Lithuania-flagged super trawler said to be the second-largest fishing vessel in the world, according to an article in the Daily Mail.¹⁴⁵ It also had “a bad track record for chronic overfishing” and was seen fishing in Mauritanian waters in 2021, according to a Greenpeace article. The vessel was able to catch and freeze 250 tons of fish per day, reportedly targeting the small pelagic fish already overexploited in West Africa and vital to the food security of millions of people in the region. The Margiris was trawling Mauritanian waters under an agreement between the EU and Mauritania.¹⁴⁶

Some foreign fishing ships have committed behavior in Mauritania’s waters that appears to violate fishing laws. The Hicaz-6, for example, caught banned species including Sardinella aurita and Sardinella maderensis for fishmeal, according to Mansour Boidaha, president of Zakia Environmental Organization and general coordinator of the Environmental and Fisheries Movement. The Turkey-flagged vessel is leased by Sunrise, a subsidiary of the Chinese aquaculture giant Baiyang Investment Group. It plays a key role in sustaining companies like Olvea in France.¹⁴⁷ Sunrise did not respond to a request for comment.¹⁴⁸ Although transshipment is banned in Mauritanian waters, the Ilhan Yilmaz-1, another Turkish vessel, engaged in what maritime investigations firm OceanMind said was likely transshipment behavior in at least 10 incidents between 2022 and 2024.¹⁴⁹^M The vessel’s operator did not respond to a request for comment.¹⁵⁰ (Olvea did not respond to a request for comment on this issue, but did respond to other questions.)¹⁵¹

The Turkey-owned fishmeal vessel Ilhan Yilmaz 5 sinking off the coast of Mauritania in November 2019. Globally, fishing is ranked as the world’s most dangerous profession.@denizcilikdergisi3705 on YouTube

Mauritania is the world’s 13th-largest exporter of fishmeal.¹⁵² Spain is a key destination for Mauritanian seafood exports overall, and some fishmeal and oil is routed through Spanish ports such as the one in Las Palmas, Canary Islands. The majority of fishmeal produced in Mauritania is exported to China and Vietnam, while fish oil exports largely go to Europe, according to MarinTrust.¹⁵³ Not all of the raw material caught in Mauritania is processed there; some of the catch is exported directly to Turkey, Japan, China, or Vietnam, often to be turned into fishmeal, said an article by the US International Trade Association in December 2023.¹⁵⁴

In response to growing scarcity, Mauritania introduced a quota in 2021 that required at least a fifth of fish caught to be frozen and directed toward human consumption. This, combined with the growing fish scarcity, strained processors. Over the following years, at least 19 companies in Nouadhibou ceased operations.¹⁵⁵ In August 2025, the Ministry of Fisheries announced that more than 40 of the country’s fishmeal factories had closed. This outcome was celebrated by activists; Mansour Boidaha, a representative of Greenpeace Africa, stated, “Every factory that closes is a victory for fishermen, for women processors, and for food security in Mauritania and West Africa.”

Mauritania is not alone in the challenges that its fishmeal industry has created. Despite the risk of collapse of local fishing stocks, West Africa has seen increased growth of fishmeal and fish oil factories. This factory growth, which in 2018 absorbed 90 percent of total pelagic catch, has been correlated with stocks of flat and round sardinella dropping to their lowest levels in history, according to an analysis of fish stocks and fishmeal plants in 2024.¹⁵⁶ This increase in fishmeal factories can be traced back to the heavy demand for farmed salmon in Europe, which was worth 8.4 billion euros in 2022, or approximately $8.85 billion, according to a 2025 Oceana article.¹⁵⁷^M

Footnotes (157)

“Saumon: histoire d'un enfumage,” (archived) Arte TV, 2022. (archived) The film claimed the following plants were among those exceeding Mauritania’s annual fishmeal production quota of 2,000 tons: Jin Zhuang Fishing Company, Omaurci, Alfa Service, Rim Fish Meal, Mah El Turk, Xiangheshun-Mauritanie, Atyphen, Sino-Rim, Sfhp, Atlantic Proteine, and Smpc. (archived)
“Saumon: histoire d'un enfumage,” (archived) Arte TV, 2022. (archived) The film claimed the following plants were among those exceeding Mauritania’s annual fishmeal production quota of 2,000 tons: Jin Zhuang Fishing Company, Omaurci, Alfa Service, Rim Fish Meal, Mah El Turk, Xiangheshun-Mauritanie, Atyphen, Sino-Rim, Sfhp, Atlantic Proteine, and Smpc. (archived)
“The hidden cost of your supermarket salmon,” (archived) Financial Times, January 31, 2024.
“Blue Empire – How your supermarket salmon is impacting communities in West Africa,” (archived) Feedback Global, February 1, 2024. Norwegian farmed salmon is one of the biggest consumers of fishmeal and fish oil coming from West Africa and in 2024, the conservation group, Feedback, wrote a letter to the Norwegian government calling for 3 actions: “1: Ensure that Norwegian companies' activities and feed purchasing practices do not contradict the country's own development policy, by introducing an immediate ban on purchasing fish oil from food-insecure areas, including Northwest Africa. 2: Halt further growth in Norway's salmon farming sector to ensure it remains within the planet's sustainable limits 3: Enforce true transparency in aquaculture supply chains, including full disclosure of suppliers – from source-certified fisheries and beyond.” Stop sourcing fish oil from West Africa – international organisations and academics call on the Norwegian government to regulate its salmon farming industry, (archived) Feedback Global, July 3, 2024.
See Bait to Plate.
See Bait to Plate.
See Bait to Plate.
See Bait to Plate.
From “Why the Sea Became a Protein Mine”
“Review of the feed industry from a historical perspective and implications for its future,” (archived) Journal of Applied Animal Nutrition, January 20, 2016.
“The ability to create a stable food supply from animals allowed the world’s population to grow, residential centers to develop and cities to emerge. The domestication of wild crops and livestock, and the introduction of irrigation and the plough meant that there was enough food to feed a world population of over 200 million by the time of the birth of Christ. Once animal production practices transitioned from free-range grazing to confined housing and animals were bred for better productive performance, providing them with a ‘nutritionally balanced’ diet became necessary. Changes in agricultural production practices begun in the 18th century culminated in better approaches to overall animal feeding at around the turn of the 19th century. As a result, the constantly evolving feed industry was born.” “Review of the feed industry from a historical perspective and implications for its future,” (archived) Journal of Applied Animal Nutrition, January 20, 2016.
“Review of the feed industry from a historical perspective and implications for its future,” (archived) Journal of Applied Animal Nutrition, January 20, 2016.
“Review of the feed industry from a historical perspective and implications for its future,” (archived) Journal of Applied Animal Nutrition, January 20, 2016.
“Fishing for Food and Fodder: The Transnational Environmental History of Humboldt Current Fisheries in Peru and Chile since 1945,” (archived) Duke University, 2011.
The Fishmeal Revolution, The Industrialization of the Humboldt Current Ecosystem, (archived) Kristin A. Wintersteen, May 2021.
The Fishmeal Revolution, The Industrialization of the Humboldt Current Ecosystem, (archived) Kristin A. Wintersteen, May 2021.
“Consumption externalities,” (archived) Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Wellbeing, March 2014.
Every year for much of the past century, an average of 22 million tons of fish caught in the global ocean have not been used to nourish people, according to research published in 2017 by Fish and Fisheries, produced by The Sea Around Us program. “Millions of tonnes of prime fish off limits to humans,” (archived) Sea Around Us, February 12, 2017. From 1950 to 2010, roughly 27 percent of commercial marine landings were diverted to uses other than direct human consumption. Roughly 90 percent of fish destined for uses other than direct human consumption are food-grade fish. “The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture,” (archived) Food and Agriculture Organization, 2024, page 68.
“Forage fish and whole fish,” (archived) International Fishmeal and Fish Oil Organisation, 2025.
“90 percent of fish we use for fishmeal could be used to feed humans instead,” (archived) NPR, February 2017.
Two studies seem to have played a big role in raising questions about the claims made by the feed industry when it comes to fishmeal and fish oil and the seafood produced being fed these feed products. The first was a 2024 Science Advances paper (archived) that found that, kilogram-for-kilogram, carnivorous fish such as salmon and trout eat far more seafood than they provide. The paper suggested that, contrary to the aquaculture’s sustainability claims, the global fish farming industry uses as much as 307 percent more wild fish than previously reported. In supplementary materials for that study (archived), also published in Science Advances in 2024, it was found that while the sector has repeatedly claimed to be reducing its dependence on wild-caught fish, it was using “misleading and … often inaccurate” figures, which downplay its demand. Roberts’ research was critiqued by a 2025 paper, which said: “One of the most persistent critiques of ‘feeding fish to fish’ is based on FIFO [Fish In, Fish Out]. Yet how one estimates FIFO depends on numerous model assumptions and data quality, including accounting for or ignoring improvements to the sector over time. For instance, Roberts et al.’s most extreme results stem from estimates published between 2008 and 2011 and thus collected in the early 2000s when efficiencies and percent inclusion were higher.” “No Free Lunch: Sustainable Aquaculture Requires Recognizing Past Science, Improvements, and Comparative Assessment,” (archived) Reviews in Aquaculture, October 29, 2025. “The paper by Roberts et al 2022 in Science Advances [Sci Adv attachment] has numerous logic and methodological errors,” the IFFO wrote in an email to The Outlaw Ocean Project in January 2026. “For example, you cannot conflate FIFO as a sustainability assessment as it does not provide any basis for assessment of trade-offs.” Another study led by Patricia Majluf, an environmental scientist with the Center for Environmental Sustainability at the Cayetano Heredia University, reviewed scientific literature on the use of wild-caught fish in aquaculture. The researchers found that, contrary to the industry’s claims that it is helping to “feed the world,” aquaculture is depleting wild fisheries that would otherwise be used by coastal communities.
“Taming the Wild Tuna,” (archived) The New York Times, September 4, 2010.
“A 20-year retrospective review of global aquaculture,” (archived) Nature, March 24, 2021.
“A 20-year retrospective review of global aquaculture,” (archived) Nature, March 24, 2021.
“A 20-year retrospective review of global aquaculture,” (archived) Nature, March 24, 2021.
“Environmental impacts and food loss and waste in the U.S. aquatic food system” (archived) Global Environmental Change, March 2025. This global life-cycle assessment of major farmed seafood species considered all major emission sources, including feed production of fishmeal, fish oil, and soy variants; feed mill production; the production process of aquaculture; and transportation of goods to the US. The authors assessed across three metrics: energy usage, water consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions. They found that although aquaculture emitted 54 percent more greenhouse gas emissions than wild-caught fish, most farmed seafood had a smaller greenhouse gas footprint per pound than terrestrial livestock, especially beef and pork. These lower emissions stemmed in part from greater feed-conversion efficiency and the absence of methane emissions that characterized the growth of herbivores, e.g., cattle. However, there was substantial variability across the aquaculture industry. Intensive species such as shrimp and catfish can exceed the emissions of poultry and, depending on distances required to travel, sometimes pork. Meanwhile, with roughly 70 percent of US farmed fish being imported, frozen seafood arriving by cargo ship tended to have lower carbon footprints than fresh goods transported by air. Though the data used results in a US consumption context regarding associated impacts of importing goods, the paper suggested improved feed efficiency and waste reduction could further lower aquaculture’s emissions footprint.
“Sustainable bivalve farming can deliver food security in the tropics,” (archived) Nature Food, 2020.
“Sustainable bivalve farming can deliver food security in the tropics,” (archived) Nature Food, 2020.
Recent estimates for the portion of farmed seafood that relies on external feed inputs range from 50 to 70 percent, according to three studies. As of 2019, two-thirds of all farmed seafood relied on external feed inputs, according to the Changing Markets Foundation: “The largest consumers of commercial aquaculture feeds in 2012 were herbivorous and omnivorous carp species (11Mt), followed by tilapia (6.6Mt), shrimp (6.1Mt), catfish (4.2Mt) and salmon and marine fish (2.9Mt each). While aquafeeds for salmonid species contain the highest share of FMFO [fish meal and fish oil], compound feeds for herbivorous and omnivorous fish can also contain low to moderate levels of protein obtained from fish and terrestrial animals. The FAO reports that, between 1995 and 2015, production of feed-reliant farmed aquatic species increased more than fourfold (from 12Mt to 51Mt), largely through intensification of production methods for shrimp, tilapias, carps and salmonids. Today, 48% of total global aquaculture production (including aquatic plants; 66% excluding aquatic plants) is produced using exogenous feed.” “Until the Seas Run Dry,” (archived) Changing Markets Foundation, 2019, page 21. As of 2020, roughly half of all farmed seafood relied on external feed inputs, according to the journal Nature Food: “Aquaculture is one of the fastest growing sources of animal protein globally, with approximately half of total production requiring external feed inputs. Aquafeeds typically include fishmeal and oil extracted from small pelagic forage fish, such as herrings, sardines and anchovies, and to a lesser extent from fish trimmings and discards. Fishmeal and oil were originally used as palatable and inexpensive feed ingredients efficient at supplying the protein and fatty acid requirements of farmed aquatic species. However, with global forage fish catches stagnant since the 1980s, the price of fishmeal and oil has increased alongside the demand for aquaculture, pig and poultry feeds. Furthermore, the use of forage fish for feed has been criticized for its impact on marine ecosystems and for diverting these nutritious, small fish away from human consumption. To secure sustainable growth in the fed aquaculture industry, producers have found (and must continue to find) feeds that reduce or exclude forage fish ingredients without compromising the economic value, or fish consumption benefits for human health, that aquaculture confers.” “Global adoption of novel aquaculture feeds could substantially reduce forage fish demand by 2030,” (archived) Nature Food, May 2020, page 301. As of 2022, more than two-thirds of all farmed seafood relied on external feed inputs, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization: “The production of fed aquaculture continued to outpace that of non-fed aquaculture in 2021–2022. Globally, the share of non-fed aquaculture in total farmed animal species production fell from 39.7 percent in 2000 to 27.6 percent in 2020 and to 26.9 percent in 2022.” “The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture,” (archived) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 2024, page 23.
The report resumes
“Blue Empire – How your supermarket salmon is impacting communities in West Africa,” (archived) Feedback Global, February 1, 2024, page 17.
“Expanding Fishmeal Factories: A Threat To Food Security & The Environment report,” (archived) Greenpeace, 2021.
“Expanding Fishmeal Factories: A Threat To Food Security & The Environment report,” (archived) Greenpeace, 2021.
“Mauritania pledged to eliminate fishmeal production by 2020. Today, it has tripled,” (archived) Coalition for Fair Fisheries Arrangements, October 16, 2020.
For more information on declining fish stocks in Northwest Africa, consult “Sardinella fisheries: quickly disappearing vital source of food and nutrition security in Northwest Africa,” (archived) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), October 15, 2021. For more information on the importance of small fish resources in low- and middle-income communities, consult “Small pelagic fish supply abundant and affordable micronutrients to low-and middle-income countries,” (archived) Nature Food, December 1, 2022. For more information on the impacts of the fish-based feed industry in Sub-Saharan Africa, consult “Socio-economic and biological impacts of the fish-based feed industry for Sub-Saharan Africa report,” (archived) FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Circular No. 1236, 2022. Fishery Committee for the Eastern Central Atlantic Summary Report, (archived) FAO Working Group on the Assessment of Small Pelagic Fish Off Northwest Africa 2023. Scientists caution that the boom-bust nature of reduction fisheries often makes it difficult to estimate their longer-term health.
“West African fish are no longer disappearing to Europe, but to China,” (archived) Volkskrant, 2018. (archived)
“Revealed: Industry-led West Africa Fishery Protection Measures Marred By ‘Massive Conflicts of Interest,’” (archived) Desmog, July 4, 2024.
“Final monitoring report on landings and fishmeal factories for the period May to December 2021,” Mauritanian Small Pelagic Fisheries Improvement Project, translation, December 2021.
Fishery Committee for the Eastern Central Atlantic Summary Report, (archived) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Working Group on the Assessment of Small Pelagic Fish Off Northwest Africa 2023.
“Ocean Shock: Plundering Africa: Voracious fishmeal factories intensify the pressure of climate change,” (archived) Reuters Investigates, October 30, 2018.
“Fishery Committee for the Eastern Central Atlantic,” (archived) Outcomes of the 9th Scientific Sub-committee, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), July 2023.
“Mauritania’s fishmeal production halves as human consumption prioritized,” (archived) Undercurrent News, February 16, 2024. “The hidden cost of your supermarket salmon,” (archived) Financial Times, January 31, 2024.
“Track the fish: a human rights assessment of the small pelagic fish value chain in Senegal and Mauritania Report,” (archived) Partner Africa, 2023.
From “Fishmeal Sustainability: Walking North on a Southbound Train”
“The Politics of Protein,” (archived) The International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES Food), 2022.
“Land Grab? The Race for the World’s Farmland,” (archived) Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 2009.
“Uncle Sam and the Magic Beanstalk,” (archived) Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2024.
“Uncle Sam and the Magic Beanstalk,” (archived) Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2024.
Over 57 percent of fishmeal comes from nutritionally vulnerable countries. If consumed directly as wild fish, it would meet the needs of 31 million people currently facing nutritional deficiencies, according to a 2026 PNAS study. "Global nutritional equity of fishmeal and aquaculture trade flows," (archived) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), February 2026. The study defined nutritionally vulnerable countries as those with at least 25 percent inadequate nutritional intake and found aquaculture products are mostly exported from such nations: 57.7 percent of fishmeal by weight; and 66.5 percent of farmed fish. Hypothetical modeling of how aquaculture trade impacts nutritional vulnerability found that "if captured aquatic species used for fishmeal had been consumed directly, they could have met the needs of 31.0 million people (or 23.3 million if fishmeal from trimmings was reduced by 34%)." In Senegal and Mauritania alone, fishmeal exports were jointly equivalent to 1,800,000 individual annual nutrient needs.
“A Waste of Fish,” (archived) Greenpeace, 2019, page 12.
“Analysis of Fish Consumption in the ECOWAS Region and Mauritania: Current Constraints and Future Challenges,” (archived) Sustainability, 2024, page 13.
“UNHCR Strategy in Mauritania 2021-2025,” (archived) UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, 2021.
“Track the fish: a human rights assessment of the small pelagic fish value chain in Senegal and Mauritania,” (archived) Partner Africa, 2023, page 27.
To view IFFO's response in full, visit the Discussion page. (IFFO, January 9, 2026.)
To view IFFO's response in full, visit the Discussion page. (IFFO, January 9, 2026.)
To view IFFO's response in full, visit the Discussion page. (IFFO, January 9, 2026.)
One example of the way the aquaculture industry created demand for a product that did not exist previously is the way the Norwegians convinced the Japanese to normalize the use of raw salmon in sushi. “Once Norway’s appetite was secured, producers turned their sights outward. In the mid-1980s they launched Project Japan. Japanese consumers had never eaten raw salmon, associating it with disease risk, but industry leaders saw an opening: if they could normalize salmon in sushi, they could open a gateway to global demand. A delegation led by former fisheries minister Thor Listau arrived in Tokyo with ‘premium’ fillets, staged high profile tasting events, and saturated the public sphere with messaging about salmon’s safety and quality.” “The Myth of Sustainable Aquaculture,” (archived) Aquaculture Accountability Project, January 2026, page 8. The industry also wielded influence over policymakers at a high level early on to cast industrialized aquaculture as sustainable and needed: “From its earliest days, Norway’s salmon industry invested heavily in research and promotion that framed aquaculture as the antidote to overfishing, both by funding reports and by channeling money into university and institute research, including through the government-run but industrylevy-financed Norwegian Seafood Research Fund (FHF). Findings from this research were promoted by Norwegian industry and government representatives in international forums, including the FAO. Their influence is evident in landmark policy documents such as the 1995 FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and the 2000 Kyoto Declaration on Aquaculture, both of which enshrined aquaculture as a cornerstone of the global sustainable development agenda. Today, major development lenders cite this framing directly, with the World Bank projecting nearly 100 million additional metric tons of aquaculture growth under the banner of ‘food security.’” “The Myth of Sustainable Aquaculture,” (archived) Aquaculture Accountability Project, January 2026, page 16.
The report went on to say that rather than improving access in regions facing food insecurity, much of this growth has occurred in high-income countries, reinforcing patterns of overconsumption. “Since the 1960s, when industrial aquaculture first took root, global sea animal intake has grown significantly, nearly twice the rate of human population.” In other words, the report said, animal aquaculture creates excess supply that encourages people to eat more fish, rather than simply filling unmet demand in a sustainable way. Aquaculture does not displace wild-caught fishing, it is additive, driving overall fish consumption higher and compounding pressure on ocean ecosystems. “This ‘demand’ has been manufactured through deceptive marketing that recasts farmed fish as a clean, climate-friendly necessity, persuading consumers and foodservice to buy more fish,” the report said. “The Myth of Sustainable Aquaculture,” (archived) Aquaculture Accountability Project, January 2026, page 14.
“Why aquaculture may not conserve wild fish,” (archived) Science Advances, 2024, page 6.
“Most fish destined for fishmeal production are food-grade fish,” (archived) Fish and Fisheries, January 2017.
“Where are we with the sustainability of fishmeal fisheries?” (archived) International Fishmeal and Fish Oil Organisation, November 2022.
Much of the rise, according to the FAO, is predicted to come from the use of trimmings. “The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture,” (archived) Food and Agriculture Organization, 2024, page 214.
“The overall stable production has been coupled with a surging demand driven by a fast-growing aquaculture industry, as well as by pig and poultry farming, and the pet food and pharmaceutical industries.” “The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture,” (archived) Food and Agriculture Organization, 2024, page 69.
“Sustainable Aquaculture Engagement,” (archived) Farm Animal Investment Risk and Return Initiative (FAIRR), 2025.
“Rabobank projects fishmeal shortage by 2028,” (archived) Feed Strategy, November 13, 2025.
“Upcoming fishmeal, fish oil shortages will require swift industry action, Rabobank warns,” (archived) Seafood Source, September 29, 2025.
One way in which the fishmeal and aquaculture industries impact the climate is by removing forage fish from the sea. This takes away one source of sequestration because small fish “drive the natural carbon ‘pump’: their excrement aggregates into “marine snow,” sinking carbon into the deep sea and locking it away for centuries.” “The scale at which we farm fish requires high densities that spawn disease, necessitating antibiotic use, and uses enormous quantities of wild-caught fish and deforestation-linked crops, destroying both land and aquatic ecosystems and undermining food security for vulnerable communities around the globe. Even so-called “best practice” farms cannot meet a basic threshold of sustainability.” “The Myth of Sustainable Aquaculture,” (archived) Aquaculture Accountability Project, January 2026, page 46.
“Farmed fish is widely promoted as a climate-smart alternative to not only wild fish, but also land-based meats like beef. However, there is no evidence that farmed fish is helping displace these meats; rather, as fish consumption has gone up, so has beef consumption.” “The Myth of Sustainable Aquaculture,” (archived) Aquaculture Accountability Project, January 2026, page 46.
“Quantifying greenhouse gas emissions from global aquaculture,” (archived) Scientific Reports, 2020. Aquaculture’s climate footprint is consistently undercounted. Feed production—mainly fishmeal and fish oil (FMFO)—accounts for up to 57 percent of total emissions, yet is often excluded from life-cycle assessments.
“Environmental impacts and food loss and waste in the U.S. aquatic food system” (archived) Global Environmental Change, March 2025. Emission comparisons are typically made per kilogram or per pound, not per calorie or gram of digestible protein, masking inefficiency: 1 kilogram pork ≈ 2,400 kcal; 1 kilogram cod ≈ 800 kcal.
“Restoring mangroves lost by aquaculture offers large blue carbon benefits,” (archived) One Earth, January 2025. Shrimp-pond and coastal farm expansion has caused an estimated 28 percent of global mangrove loss (≈ 165,000 ha in SE Asia alone), releasing or preventing storage of roughly 165 million metric tons of CO2—comparable to the annual emissions of the United Kingdom’s 35 million cars.
Additional climate pressures stemmed from the harvest of wild forage fish for fishmeal and fish oil, which removed key small pelagic species such as anchovy, sardine, menhaden, and capelin that supported marine food webs and the ocean’s biological carbon pump. Industrial purse-seining and pelagic trawling released stored seabed carbon and drove high bycatch rates. Long-distance transport of feed fish, e.g., West African bonga to Asian mills, added further fuel emissions, while farm operations emitted methane and nitrous oxide that were rarely included in life-cycle assessments. “Fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions of world fisheries,” (archived) Nature Climate Change, Volume 8, April 2018. When assessed collectively and per calorie, the known climate footprint of certain farmed fish species can match or exceed poultry and pork. “Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers,” (archived) Science, June 2018.
Bill McKibben spoke with The Outlaw Ocean Project in a phone interview in December 2025.
“Bill McKibben says cheap solar could topple Big Oil’s power,” (archived) Yale Climate Connections, September 18, 2025.
Bill McKibben spoke with The Outlaw Ocean Project in a phone interview in December 2025.
The report resumes
The Mauritanian government has worked to limit scrutiny of its fishmeal sector through several channels. In July 2025, authorities arrested Ali Bakar, an environmental activist and former fisheries observer, after he posted satellite evidence to Facebook indicating that a Turkish vessel was disguising its position inside the Banc d'Arguin National Park. He was held for roughly two months on a Coast Guard complaint accusing him of publishing "false information" damaging to the state's reputation and sovereignty, and was released on September 18, 2025, as reported by the Media Foundation for West Africa and CIVICUS Monitor. It was Bakar's second arrest tied to environmental advocacy, the first coming in 2019 over a campaign against mining pollution near the same reserve. The government has also narrowed access to industry data. The most detailed public registry of licensed industrial vessels, listing each ship's specifications and the companies it supplies, dates only to 2021. In an interview with The Outlaw Ocean Project in May 2026, Bakar said authorities stopped releasing this data under pressure from the fishmeal lobby.
“The hidden cost of your supermarket salmon,” (archived) Financial Times, January 31, 2024.
“Track the fish: a human rights assessment of the small pelagic fish value chain in Senegal and Mauritania Report,” (archived) Partner Africa, 2023.
“Socio-economic and biological impacts of the fish-based feed industry for sub-Saharan Africa,” (archived) FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Circular No. 1236, 2022.
“Socio-economic impacts of the fishmeal and fish oil industry in the Gambia, Mauritania and Senegal,” (archived) Rampao, January 2024.
“Track the fish: a human rights assessment of the small pelagic fish value chain in Senegal and Mauritania,” (archived) Partner Africa, 2023.
Bottom trawling analysis spreadsheet.
These subsidies were not for the fishmeal fleet specifically but rather subsidies for the country’s entire fishing fleet. “Updated estimates and analysis of global fisheries subsidies,” (archived) University of British Columbia, September 2019, page 7.
“Supplementary information for Marine Policy paper about subsidies,” University of British Columbia, 2019.
“Fuel price mitigation agreement for fishing activities,” Islamic Republic of Mauritania, 2022.
“FiTI supports implementation of WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies with new Fisheries Information System (FIS),” (archived) Fisheries Transparency Initiative, September 2025.
“Mauritanian small pelagics – purse seine,” (archived) FisheryProgress, November 15, 2024. For further context on the Fishery Improvement Project, consult “Revealed: Industry-led West Africa Fishery Protection Measures Marred By ‘Massive Conflicts of Interest report’,” (archived) DeSmog, 2024.
“Mauritanian small pelagics - Sfp Fip Rating A,” (archived) Accepted FIPs under the MarinTrust Improver Programme, 2025.
“Newsletter, July-September 2024,” (archived) Fisheries Improvement Project, The Mauritanian small pelagic fishery, pdf, September 2024. “Report of the Working Group on the Assessment of Small Pelagic Fish off NorthWest Africa,” (archived) Food and Agriculture Organization, July 2019. “Overexploitation of round sardinella may lead to the collapse of flat sardinella: What lessons can be drawn for shared stocks,” (archived) Fisheries Research, 2024.
“Reduction fisheries: 2022 management and stock status sustainability overview (Part 2),” (archived) Sustainable Fish, 2022.
Mauritania small pelagics - purse seine, (archived) Fishery Progress, Fishery Improvement Project Progress Tracking Database & Tools, pdf, January 31, 2025. The following plants were listed as participants in the Mauritania small pelagics - purse seine improvement project, Mah el Turk Sarl, Omaurci Sa, Olvea Group Mauritania, Winterization Mauritania Sarl, Rim Fish Meal, Fh Procurement Sarl, Atyfen Sarl, Sgip, Alfa Service Ltd, Atlantic Proteine Sarl, Africa Proteine, Mauritania Fish Meal Sarl, Sfhp Sarl, Sunrise Oceanic Resources Exploitation Company Sa, Comapeche Farine Sa, and Cofrima Proteine. For plants also certified under the MarinTrust Improver Program and approved to target flat sardinella, consult “Accepted facilities under the Improver Programme,” (archived) MarinTrust, 2025. These plants are Mah el Turk (archived) and Omaurci Sa (archived). For more information on questions raised about the project, consult: “Revealed: Industry-led West Africa Fishery Protection Measures Marred By ‘Massive Conflicts of Interest’,” (archived) DeSmog, 2024. “Overexploitation of round sardinella may lead to the collapse of flat sardinella: What lessons can be drawn for shared stocks,” (archived) Fisheries Research, January 2024.
From “Certification & The Growing Risk of False Advertising”
“Spatial Footprint and Climate Risk in Fishmeal and Fish Oil Production,” (archived) University of British Columbia, August 2024.
“What Lies Beneath: Uncovering the truth about Peru's colossal fishmeal and fish oil industry,” (archived) Changing Markets Foundation, November 2020, page 13. “Private governance of human and labor rights in seafood supply chains,” (archived) University of Groningen, 2020. “Worker-less social responsibility: How the proliferation of voluntary labour governance tools in seafood marginalise the workers they claim to protect,” (archived) Marine Policy, 2022, page 6. In some places like China, the government allows less civil society engagement. The aquaculture supply chain is especially opaque, particularly when it comes to human and labor rights, which are taboo for open discussion; yet the seafood industry has turned a blind eye to these facts and often says the seafood coming from China is sustainable and ethical. Extensive reporting has shown time and again that this is not always the case, and attempts to audit or certify plants there are uniquely flawed. For further on this, consult “Is there something rotten in global seafood?” (archived) The Outlaw Ocean Project, April 1, 2024.
Allie Brudney spoke with The Outlaw Ocean Project in a phone interview in December 2025.
“What Lies Beneath: Uncovering the truth about Peru's colossal fishmeal and fish oil industry,” (archived) Changing Markets Foundation, November 2020, page 13. In 2024, DeSmog investigated (archived) the International Fishmeal and Fish Oil Organisation and MarinTrust for conflicts of interest and a lack of civil society participation. The report found that MarinTrust’s governing structure is fully controlled by International Fishmeal and Fish Oil Organisation members and that the two organizations share the same headquarters in London, UK. University of Arizona Professor Kevin Fitzsimmons, a fisheries and aquaculture expert, likened the situation to “the fox guarding the hen house.” “Having so many people from an industry trade association basically being the same people who are running a certification organization makes no sense to me at all,” Fitzsimmons told DeSmog. “They’re not going to hold their own trade group’s feet to the fire. If anybody’s going to take these certifications at face value, they need to open up and be more independent.” A Seafood Source story (archived) explained that the International Fishmeal and Fish Oil Organisation defended itself by arguing that MarinTrust is a standard-setting body, not a certification body, and it bases its standards on scientific input.
“Worker-less social responsibility: How the proliferation of voluntary labour governance tools in seafood marginalise the workers they claim to protect,” (archived) Marine Policy, 2022, page 6.
“Fishmeal substitution with plant ingredients in shrimp feeds: A sustainability conundrum?,” (archived) Aqua Culture Asia Pacific, October 1, 2020.
“What Lies Beneath: Uncovering the truth about Peru's colossal fishmeal and fish oil industry,” Changing Markets Foundation, (archived) November 2020, page 13. “Private governance of human and labor rights in seafood supply chains,” University of Groningen, (archived) 2020. “Worker-less social responsibility: How the proliferation of voluntary labour governance tools in seafood marginalise the workers they claim to protect,” Marine Policy, (archived) 2022, page 6. In some places like China, the government allows less civil society engagement. The aquaculture supply chain is especially opaque, particularly when it comes to human and labor rights, which are taboo for open discussion; yet the seafood industry has turned a blind eye to these facts and often says the seafood coming from China is sustainable and ethical. Extensive reporting has shown time and again that this is not always the case, and attempts to audit or certify plants there are uniquely flawed. For further on this, consult “Is there something rotten in global seafood?” The Outlaw Ocean Project, (archived) April 1, 2024.
Michael Pollan spoke with The Outlaw Ocean Project in a phone interview in December 2025.
Sara Lewis spoke with The Outlaw Ocean Project in a phone interview in December 2025.
“A 20-year retrospective review of global aquaculture,” (archived) Nature, 2021.
To view the responses in full, visit the Discussion page.
To view the company’s response in full, visit the Discussion page. (MarinTrust, December 29, 2025.)
To view the company’s response in full, visit the Discussion page. (Aquaculture Stewardship Council, January 9, 2026.)
To view the company’s response in full, visit the Discussion page. (Friend of the Sea, December 19, 2025.)
To view the company’s response in full, visit the Discussion page. (Global Seafood Alliance, January 5, 2026.)
“Certified Occupation report,” (archived) Western Sahara Resource Watch, December 2025.
“Certified Occupation report,” (archived) Western Sahara Resource Watch, December 2025.
“Revealed: Industry-led West Africa Fishery Protection Measures Marred By ‘Massive Conflicts of Interest’,” (archived) DeSmog, July 4, 2024.
“Landmark U.S. ruling allows Indonesians to proceed with lawsuit against Bumble Bee for forced labor on fishing boats,” (archived) Greenpeace, November 13, 2025. Complaint (archived) filed against Bumble Bee Foods in the United States District Court, Southern District Court of California, March 12, 2025. Order (archived) granting in part and denying in part Bumble Bee’s motion to dismiss, filed November 12, 2025. “Lawsuit advances accusing Bumble Bee of benefiting from forced labor,” (archived) Undercurrent News, November 13, 2025.
To view The Outlaw Ocean Project’s email in full, visit the Discussion page. (Bumble Bee Foods)
The report resumes
“Certifying the unsustainable: The Fisheries Improvement Project in Mauritania,” (archived) Coalition for Fair Fisheries Arrangements, June 14, 2022. (archived)
“Complete Recommendation List,” Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch, (archived) February 2024. “How committed are grocers to selling responsibly sourced seafood?” Seachoice, (archived) March 14, 2024. “Blue Empire,” Feedback Global, (archived) 2024. “Hidden Harvest,” Corporate Accountability Lab, (archived) March 2024. “Greenpeace USA Demands Government and Corporate Action in Wake of Disturbing Findings in Indian Shrimp Industry Report,” Greenpeace, (archived) March 28, 2024.
To view the company’s response in full, visit the Discussion page. (Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, January 6, 2026)
“Law no. 2013-041 of November 12, 2013, establishing a structure called ‘Mauritanian Coast Guard’” (translated) Fisheries Ministry, November 12, 2013. For more information on whether law/regulation require or exempt fishing vessels from keeping AIS turned on, consult The Outlaw Ocean Project toolkit, global fishing legislation, last updated in October 2024. For information on ship tracking in Mauritania, consult a Mauritania Fisheries Ministry document regarding this matter from March 25, 2020.
“AIS darkness data from Skylight, 2020-2025 Tied to Mauritanian Fishing Ships spreadsheet,” Skylight, February 2025.
To view The Outlaw Ocean Project’s email in full, visit the Discussion page. (Mauritania Pelagic)
For more information on transshipment in Mauritania waters, consult The Outlaw Ocean Project Global Legislative Database, Mauritania Page (archived) pertaining to rules on transshipment.
Based on an assessment of publicly available location data conducted by the Allen Institute for AI.
“The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea,” (archived) Arctic Portal, 2004.
See Bait to Plate.
“Track the fish: a human rights assessment of the small pelagic fish value chain in Senegal and Mauritania,” (archived) Partner Africa, 2023.
To view The Outlaw Ocean Project’s email in full, visit the Discussion page. (Hong Dong International Mauritania Fishery Development Co., Ltd.)
“They Never Stopped Fishing Report,” (archived) The Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara, The Norwegian Council for Africa, The Norwegian Society for the Conservation of Nature and with support from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, April 26, 2023, page 18. There is also a reported pattern of vessels permitted to fish in Mauritanian waters fishing in the waters of Western Sahara. For more information, consult “One of the richest coastlines in the world,” (archived) Western Sahara Resource Watch, May 11, 2023. (archived).
The Rulings for cases T-512/12, T-180/14, C-266/16, T-275/18 and combined cases T-344/19, T-356/19 and T-279/19 can be accessed at the EU Court of Justice website (archived). African Court on Human and People’s Rights, Ruling on Application N° 028/2018, (archived) September 22, 2022. A Western Sahara Resource Watch letter to NSF CEO Pedro Sancha, November 29, 2024 which details the above rulings.
The following CJEU (archived) judgements demonstrate the Court’s stance supporting the right of the people of the Western Sahara to self-determination: Judgment (archived) on December 21, 2016, EU:C:2016:973, §92, and reiterated in the Judgment (archived) on February 27, 2018, EU:C:2018:118, §62, Judgment (archived) of October 4, 2024, EU:C:2024:833, §163, Judgment (archived) on October 4, 2024, EU:C:2024:839, §85 and Judgment (archived) on October 4, EU:C:2024:835, §134. Judgment on December 10, 2015, EU:T:2015:953, §241. Considered settled in subsequent rulings. “Account must also be taken of the fact that the Kingdom of Morocco does not have any mandate granted by the UN or by another international body for the administration of that territory, and it is common ground that it does not transmit to the UN information relating to that territory, such as those provided for by Article 73(e) of the UN Charter.” Judgment on December 10, 2015, EU:T:2015:953, §233. Considered settled in subsequent rulings. Judgment on February 27, 2018, EU:C:2018:118, §67-85. Considered settled in subsequent rulings. Judgment on December 21, 2016, EU:C:2016:973, §104. Reiterated and refined in subsequent rulings. Judgment on October 4, 2024, EU:C:2024:833, §180-181. Judgment on October 4, 2024, EU:C:2024:835, §152-153. Judgment on October 4, 2024, EU:C:2024:833, §157. Judgment on October 4, 2024, EU:C:2024:835, §128. Judgment on October 4, 2024, EU:C:2024:833, §158. Judgment on October 4, 2024, EU:C:2024:835, §129. Judgment on October 4, 2024, EU:C:2024:833, §96-138, Judgment on October 4, 2024, EU:C:2024:835, §70-109. Judgment on October 4, 2024, EU:C:2024:839, §89.
“Western Sahara Independence Group Ends Truce With Morocco,” (archived) The New York Times, November 14, 2020. “UN chief vows to do utmost to keep Western Sahara cease-fire,” (archived) AP News, November 13, 2020.
Sadaml Hamoud Facebook post, (archived) April 11, 2024. “For me, Yasser, from time to time, we talk about Mocha, and yet you still don't talk about it despite being busy. Look, Mocha has caused elderly people in the city to suffer from shortness of breath, and those who didn't die left their families and homes because of Mocha. The migration of youth to the United States of America: It became apparent that most of the youth who were in Mocha, or even the residents of Nouadhibou, are suffering from cancer.” Moka/Mocha is a colloquial term used by locals to refer to the fishmeal industry. (archived)
Mansour Boidaha Facebook post and videos, (archived) January 18, 2024. Video showing wastewater pipes draining onto a littered beach, (archived) and video showing a littered beach. (archived)
To view The Outlaw Ocean Project’s emails in full, visit the Discussion page.
“Spatial distribution of fishmeal and fish oil factories around the globe,” (archived) Science Advances, April 2025, page 2.
TMA is “strongly toxic and carcinogenic,” according to a 2021 article published by the Society of Chemical Industry, which studied devices to remove the compound from the air. The study noted that TMA is “difficult to eradicate” from industrial sources including fishmeal plants, requiring “efficient treatment technology.” “Sustainable and continuous removal of trimethylamine in a bio-photoelectrochemical reactor using g-C3N4/TiO2 photocathode with power generation,” Society of Chemical Industry, (archived) September 21, 2021. TMA has been “reported as a carcinogenic compound,” wrote Thai researchers in 2019 in “Lignin and holocellulose from coir pith involved in trimethylamine (fishy odor) adsorption,” Journal of Environmental Sciences, (archived) May 2019. A 2019 study in the Journal of Environmental Management also noted how TMA and other aliphatic amines “may be photochemically converted into nitrosamines, which are toxic and carcinogenic.” “Trickling filter technology for biotreatment of nitrogenous compounds emitted in exhaust gases from fishmeal plants,” Journal of Environmental Management, (archived) February 15, 2019.
See Bait to Plate. Stink radius population counts spreadsheet.
“Moka factories in Nouadhibou, a tragic story whose heroes are the residents,” (archived) Atlas News Agency, November 26, 2020.
The Arabic-News YouTube video, (archived) May 2, 2021. (archived)
To view The Outlaw Ocean Project’s emails in full, visit the Discussion page. (Mauritania Ministry of Fisheries & Maritime Economy) (Nouadhibou Free Zone Authority)
“Dirty Fishmeal Production in Nouadhibou, Mauritania,” (archived) Global Atlas of Environmental Justice, October 14, 2021.
“Socio-economic and biological impacts of the fish-based feed industry for sub-Saharan Africa,” (archived) FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Circular No. 1236, 2022.
“Track the fish: a human rights assessment of the small pelagic fish value chain in Senegal and Mauritania,” (archived) Partner Africa, 2023.
“Track the fish: a human rights assessment of the small pelagic fish value chain in Senegal and Mauritania,” (archived) Partner Africa, 2023.
“Assessment of the Environmental Impact of Discharges from Fishmeal Factories Located in Levrier Bay, Nouadhibou-Mauritania,” (archived) Nature Environment and Pollution Technology, February 1, 2023.
“Socio-economic impacts of the fishmeal and fish oil industry in the Gambia, Mauritania and Senegal,” (archived) Rampao, January 2024.
“Socio-economic and biological impacts of the fish-based feed industry for sub-Saharan Africa,” (archived) FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Circular No. 1236, 2022.
“Socio-economic impacts of the fishmeal and fish oil industry in the Gambia, Mauritania and Senegal,” (archived) Rampao, January 2024. “Diagnostic study of the fishmeal and fish oil sector in Mauritania and at the international level report,” Mauritanian Institute for Oceanographic and Fisheries Research in partnership with the Sub-Regional Fisheries Commission and the Laboratory of Social and Economic Studies, December 2011.
“Socio-economic impacts of the fishmeal and fish oil industry in the Gambia, Mauritania and Senegal,” (archived) Rampao, January 2024.
“Track the fish: a human rights assessment of the small pelagic fish value chain in Senegal and Mauritania,” (archived) Partner Africa, 2023, page 27.
“Track the fish: a human rights assessment of the small pelagic fish value chain in Senegal and Mauritania,” (archived) Partner Africa, 2023.
“‘Monster’ Lithuanian-registered super trawler that can process 250 tonnes of fish per day and was banned from fishing in Australia is spotted off the coast of Sussex where it could have a 'devastating' impact on local fish supplies,” (archived) The Daily Mail, October 4, 2019.
“Greenpeace condemns massive plundering of Mauritanian fish stocks vital to food security press release,” (archived) Greenpeace, March 24, 2021.
Notes on WhatsApp Group thread between Ian Urbina and Mansour Boidaha from The Zakia Environmental Organization, document, January 3, 2025.
To view The Outlaw Ocean Project’s email in full, visit the Discussion page. (Sunrise Oceanic Resources Exploitation Company)
“Fishing vessel transshipments in Mauritania Exclusive Economic Zone spreadsheet,” OceanMind, 2019-2024.
The Outlaw Ocean Project emailed Mauritania Pelagic, the parent company of Seph, the vessel operator, about this vessel. To view The Outlaw Ocean Project’s email in full, visit the Discussion page. (Mauritania Pelagic)
To view the Outlaw Ocean Project correspondence with Olvea Group in full, visit the Discussion page. (Olvea)
International Trade Centre, Trade Map website (archived). In 2023, Mauritania exported 71,889 tons of fishmeal products according to the 2023 International Trade Centre information in this spreadsheet.
“Mauritania Small Pelagic Fishery Fishery Improvement Project Case Study,” (archived) MarinTrust, 2024.
“Mauritania Country Commercial Guide,” (archived) International Trade Association, December 4, 2023.
“Mauritania faces the plundering of its waters,” (archived) Le Monde Afrique, July 31, 2025.
“Revealed: Industry-led West Africa Fishery Protection Measures Marred By ‘Massive Conflicts of Interest’,” (archived) DeSmog, Figure 3, July 4, 2024. For more information on the documented number of factories, consult “Socio-economic and biological impacts of the fish-based feed industry for sub-Saharan Africa,” (archived) FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Circular No. 1236, 2022; “The development of a fishmeal industry in Mauritania and its impact on the regional stocks of sardinella and other small pelagics in Northwest Africa,” Fisheries Research, (archived) February 2017, pages 328-336; “Monitoring of Fishmeal and Fish Oil Factories in Mauritania: 2021 & 2022,” Mauritanian Institute for Oceanographic and Fisheries Research, (archived) August 2, 2023; “List of Fishing Companies, Directorate of Fisheries Processing Industries, (archived) December 31, 2022; “The migratory fishery of small coastal pelagic fish and the supply of the fishmeal and fish oil industry in Mauritania, Belgeo, (archived) September 23, 2023.
“Overfishing in West Africa: How EU companies are contributing to depleting vital fish stocks,” (archived) Oceana, February 10, 2025.