Senegal: Continuous Fishing & Its Costs

On August 20, 2022, at least 50 protesters poured into the streets of Kayar, Senegal, demanding the closure of a nearby fishmeal factory, Touba Proteine Marine.¹ Marching from the town’s fishing wharf to the plant, they hoisted signs reading “Kayar is sick” and “Our water is contaminated.”² In a video that spread widely on Facebook, demonstrators chanted, “Time to respect our Kayar.”³

Their grievances were many. Protesters said the Senegalese government had broken its pledge not to authorize any new fishmeal plants—factories that produce a lucrative dark-yellow powder by cooking and pulverizing fish. Touba Proteine Marine, they said, had been built less than a third of a mile from residential homes, triggering health problems and violating local zoning laws, according to government documents and satellite imagery.⁴ The plant—owned until 2022 by the Spanish company Barna—was also accused of processing whole, fresh fish, undermining local food security. And the stench, residents said, made daily life unbearable.⁵

“Harsh reality of the Global South,” wrote Serigne Mbaye in a Facebook post sharing the protest video.⁶

Touba Proteine Marine was hardly an outlier. Again and again, in interviews and on online forums, residents living near Senegal’s fishmeal plants described the same noxious odors. Fishers said their catch was increasingly diverted into factories for export rather than sold in local markets for human consumption. Satellite data shows that other plants, too, were built within a third of a mile of homes—again in apparent violation of Senegalese law.⁷ Touba Proteine Marine and Barna did not respond to a request for comment.⁸

In Kayar, Senegal, demonstrators marched in protest of the Barna Senegal fishmeal factory on August 20, 2022. Locals said the facility’s toxic smells and waste made them sick and polluted the water.Seringe Mbaye on Facebook

Between 2018 and 2024, at least eight fishmeal plants in Senegal were linked to environmental issues, unsustainable fishing practices, and repeated episodes of civil unrest, according to news reports, government documents, trade records, and court filings compiled in Bait to Plate, a tracking tool developed by The Outlaw Ocean Project to monitor the global fishing and seafood industries.⁹^M During that period, the plants were accused of polluting the environment on at least a dozen occasions—sometimes by dumping fish-processing waste onto nearby beaches, other times by releasing smoke that residents said caused respiratory problems.^M

The stench from the plants—often the immediate trigger for protests—is more than a quality-of-life nuisance. Residents say it erodes the local economy, driving away tourists, restaurant customers, and beachgoers. The odor also signals the release of noxious chemicals, including ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, cyanide, and methane, which are linked to serious health effects such as nausea, pulmonary edema, and, in extreme cases, death among workers and nearby residents.¹⁰

The most pungent component of the smell is trimethylamine, or TMA, a colorless gas known for its distinctive “fishy” odor. In 2021, the Society of Chemical Industry classified TMA as “strongly toxic and carcinogenic.”¹¹ The Outlaw Ocean Project’s Bait-to-Plate tool showed more than 69,000 people in Senegal, including over 11,000 children under the age of 15, live within a mile of a fishmeal plant.¹²^M

Migrants crossing the Mediterranean from Africa to Europe—driven by climate change, dwindling fish stocks, conflict, and economic hardship—were intercepted and detained by EU-backed Libyan patrols in 2021, as documented by The Outlaw Ocean Project. Many risk indefinite detention in Libya’s notorious detention centers.”Get Away from the Target,” Ed Ou/The Outlaw Ocean Project

The rapid growth of the fishmeal industry in Senegal and across West Africa has deepened concerns about food insecurity, vanishing fish stocks, migration, job losses, and worsening air and water pollution.¹³ Researchers, United Nations officials, and advocates say the industry has accelerated overfishing to the edge of collapse and encouraged illegal fishing that has inflamed geopolitical tensions between Senegal and neighboring countries.^M

Meanwhile, the social and environmental costs of producing this feed rarely appear on the balance sheets of the seafood companies that depend on it. These hidden costs—what economists call “externalities”—are instead borne by ecosystems and by communities far from where the seafood is ultimately eaten.¹⁴ The oceans shoulder an especially heavy and largely invisible burden. In 2022, more than one-fifth of all marine life caught globally was diverted into the feed industry, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the UN’s fisheries body.¹⁵ Reduction fishing often relies on purse-seine or trawl nets that capture large volumes of non-target species, stripping ecosystems of key prey fish.¹⁶ The result is a textbook case of “fishing down the food web,” in which industrial fleets shift toward ever-smaller species as larger predators disappear. The true cost of farmed fish, in other words, is not what appears on a restaurant menu or a grocery-store label.

For decades, the global turn toward aquaculture has been promoted as a way to relieve pressure on wild fisheries. But feeding farmed fish with fishmeal has inverted that promise. Unlike bivalves, carnivorous farmed fish must be fed protein-rich diets. Feed now accounts for roughly 70 percent of aquaculture’s operating costs, and fishmeal remains the industry’s most commercially viable option.¹⁷ As a result, farms producing popular seafood, including salmon, tuna, shrimp, carp, and European sea bass, often consume more fish than they deliver to market.¹⁸ Before reaching a plate, a single farmed tuna can eat more than 15 times its weight in wild fish processed into feed.¹⁹

Fishing boats navigate the waters off Mbour, about 50 miles south of Dakar, in March 2024. In Senegal, the growth of the fishmeal industry has intensified fishing pressure, complicating stock recovery and reducing local access. Many boats now sell to fishmeal plants, where profits are higher than in local markets.The Outlaw Ocean Project

Countries in the Global South, particularly in West Africa, pay a disproportionate share of this price. The region has become one of the world’s fastest-growing hubs of fishmeal production. More than 50 processing plants now operate along the coasts of Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, and The Gambia, collectively consuming an estimated half a million metric tons of fish each year.²⁰^M Senegal alone counted at least nine fishmeal plants in 2024, clustered along the coast near Saint-Louis, Kayar, Dakar, Joal, and Sandiara.²¹^M

In Senegal, the industry has transformed fishing itself. Fishmeal plants buy virtually unlimited quantities, eliminating the traditional pauses that once occurred when local markets were saturated. Fishers now have a buyer for “every last fish,” removing the informal brake that unsold catch once imposed on fishing effort.²² Between 2019 and 2025, as fishmeal exports surged, prices for dried and fresh fish more than doubled in a country where over half the population cannot afford a healthy diet.²³ Multiple advocacy reports and academic studies have drawn a direct link between rising food insecurity and the growth of Senegal’s fishmeal sector.²⁴ Fish supplies nearly half of the nation’s protein intake, according to the FAO.²⁵ Small pelagic species such as sardinella and bonga—rich in protein, omega-3 fatty acids, and micronutrients—have long been dietary staples, particularly for low-income households. Today, many of those fish are no longer eaten locally but exported almost entirely as animal feed.

Fishers and fish processors in Kayar, Senegal, faced hardship in 2022 as industrial fishmeal plants expanded. Higher prices offered by processors drew catches away from local markets, while residents reported declining stocks, persistent odors, and pollution.Sentient Media on YouTube

“Today, having three daily meals has become a problem, which has never happened to us,” said Fatou Samba, a 58-year-old fish processor in Bargny, in an interview with The Outlaw Ocean Project. “We don’t think about saving money. We think about our survival.”²⁶ Between 2009 and 2018, the volume of small pelagic fish available in local markets fell by a third, while per-capita consumption was cut in half.²⁷ The FAO has warned that by the mid-to-late 2020s, Senegal could face an annual shortfall of roughly 150,000 tons of fish for human consumption.²⁸ In 2023, fishmeal exports reached an eight-year high, coinciding with a spike in food prices and pushing Senegal into crisis-level hunger for the first time on record.²⁹ Poor-quality diets, said Christina Hicks, a scientist specializing in small-scale fisheries and nutrition at Lancaster University, can stunt children’s growth, impair cognition, and increase lifelong vulnerability to disease.³⁰

Six species are primarily targeted for Senegal’s fishmeal production: bonga shad, round and flat sardinella, horse mackerel, chub mackerel, and European anchovy.³¹^M Historically, these fish were caught by local fishers and sold fresh, smoked, or dried in regional markets, providing an essential source of affordable protein, according to a 2022 Marine Policy study. Round sardinella, in particular, is the foundation of Senegal’s national dish, thieboudienne.³² Today, three of these species—bonga shad, round sardinella, and flat sardinella—are classified by the FAO as overexploited across Northwest Africa, with both sardinella species deemed to be in “a critical situation marked by heavy overexploitation.”³³ Since the fishmeal industry expanded into West Africa, round sardinella stocks have fallen to their lowest level ever recorded.³⁴^M

Senegalese fish processors gather outside the Fisheries Ministry in 2019 to demand a halt to fishmeal and fish oil production in West Africa. Rapid industry growth diverts vital fish resources away from local communities, threatening their livelihoods and food security.Pape Diatta Sarr/Greenpeace

As the global population grows, so does competition for essential nutrients. Governments are trying to reduce dependence on imported meat in pursuit of what policymakers increasingly call “protein sovereignty.” Investors are pouring money into alternatives such as plant-based and lab-cultivated meat. At the same time, shocks—from avian flu outbreaks to the war in Ukraine—have sent meat prices surging, underscoring the fragility and interconnectedness of global food markets. “With increasing frequency, wealthy, food-importing countries and private investors are acquiring farmland overseas,” noted a report from the Wilson International Center, Land Grab? The Race for the World’s Farmland, observing that many such deals are aimed at securing future food supplies.³⁵

Dive deeper — 1 of 3 in this report — Footnotes 36–49

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, bigger, and more nutritionally—was central to the rise of modern civilization.³⁶ Techniques of animal husbandry developed roughly 12,000 years ago in the so-called “Fertile Crescent,” an ancient area stretching from Mesopotamia to Egypt.³⁷ 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.³⁸ Shifting from grazing to penning animals required farmers to provide them with balanced diets.³⁹

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.⁴⁰ Ocean habitats became calorie factories.

Kristin A. Wintersteen explains how and when the modern world began using the sea as a protein mine.⁴¹ In her 2021 book, The Fishmeal Revolution, she chronicles how the Humboldt Current, which is 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.⁴²

A day among Kayar’s artisanal fishers and processors reveals the rhythms and strains of their traditional way of life. Residents rely on small-scale fishing for food and income, but distant-water fleets and fishmeal factories are depleting stocks and diverting catch from local markets, threatening their livelihoods.The Outlaw Ocean Project

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.⁴³ In India, aquaculture is a crucial source of jobs, especially for women.⁴⁴ In Bangladesh, fish farming has driven an overall decline in the price of fish, making it more accessible for lower-income households.⁴⁵ 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.⁴⁶ Farming bivalves, including clams, oysters, scallops, and mussels, is particularly sustainable: These species typically require no feed and use minimal land and freshwater.⁴⁷ They also produce shells that can function as a form of carbon capture, according to a 2020 Nature Food study.⁴⁸ As of 2022, roughly a third of global aquaculture did not require external feed inputs.⁴⁹

Fishers gather their catch and mingle in the bustling fish market on the Atlantic coast of western Senegal in 2024. Nearly half the country's protein consumption comes from fish, according to a 2022 FAO report.France 24/The Outlaw Ocean Project

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Within a global scramble for resources, feed has emerged as a largely invisible battleground. Competition is especially fierce over crops such as soy, a cornerstone of industrial animal agriculture. “China, the US, and Brazil are by far the world’s three largest meat producers, and they are bound together by a single commodity: the soybean,” said a 2024 podcast from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.⁵⁰ “In 2018, one of the first battlegrounds in US-China trade tensions wasn’t semiconductors or rare earths—it was soybeans.” The race for fishmeal and fish oil follows the same logic: a quest for sovereignty and control over protein. The difference is geography. Unlike soy, this struggle is playing out at sea—largely beyond the scrutiny of journalists, regulators, and even environmental and human-rights watchdogs.

Freshly caught sardinella are carted through Kayar, Senegal, to the Touba Proteine Marine fishmeal factory in 2023, despite rules against using fresh fish. The diversion of these staple fish to fishmeal production has driven up prices and worsened food insecurity in the country.Jack Thompson

From July 2024 to March 2025, reporters with The Outlaw Ocean Project visited three fishmeal plants in Senegal—Omega Fishing, Touba Protein Marine, and St. Louis Sea Production—to interview nearby residents, plant managers, and workers. Historically, Senegalese fishmeal factories were expected to rely on waste products, such as fish heads, tails, and spoiled tissue, to avoid worsening food insecurity.⁵¹ But reporters found that as fishmeal prices have climbed, factories have increasingly turned to fresh, whole fish, according to interviews with plant officials and workers.

Using whole fish has become common practice in Senegal’s fishmeal industry, even in cases where licenses or contracts explicitly prohibit it. In an on-camera interview, Ibrahima Samb, a former worker at Omega Fishing in Joal who now supplies fish to factories, said his plant’s license barred the use of whole fish—but that the rule was routinely ignored.⁵² “We sometimes had whole fish,” he said, “but it happened only when the fisheries authorities made a seizure and sold it to us.”⁵³

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

In February 2025, an Outlaw Ocean Project reporter documented deliveries inside the Omega plant showing several tons of whole, fresh fish, including large quantities of flat sardinella—a species the FAO classified as overexploited in 2023.⁵⁴

At Touba Proteine Marine, the pattern was similar. In a July 2024 interview, an employee who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation told The Outlaw Ocean Project that “sometimes four to five trucks arrived at the plant each day, each carrying about 17 to 18 tons of fresh fish.” A copy of the company’s license—issued when the plant was owned by the Spanish firm Barna—states that “the plant’s raw material supply must consist of fish waste and scraps at the landing docks.”⁵⁵

Yet enforcement appears inconsistent. In a written response to questions, Senegal’s Ministry of Fisheries said that the use of whole fish is currently legal. “There is no law prohibiting the production of fishmeal and fish oil from whole fish,” she wrote. “However, since [fishmeal] factories are limited in number, further control methods will be implemented to prevent them from processing whole fish.” Touba Proteine Marine, Barna, Omega Fishing, and St. Louis Sea Production did not respond to a request for comment.⁵⁶

An Outlaw Ocean Project researcher films the Omega plant in Joal, Senegal, in February 2025, as it receives and processes whole, fresh fish. Although the feed industry often says it uses only seafood offcuts to reduce food insecurity, most fishmeal and fish oil worldwide still comes from whole fish.The Outlaw Ocean Project

As overfishing continues in Senegalese waters, recovery becomes more difficult for key species and access increasingly limited for the communities that depend on them.⁵⁷ By 2024, both flat and round sardinella were at risk of collapse in the region, according to a study published in Fisheries Research.⁵⁸ These small pelagic fish play a keystone role in marine ecosystems, serving as prey for larger fish, marine mammals, and seabirds. Their depletion destabilizes the entire food web. “Wealthy nations are allowing their ships to travel thousands of miles to plunder Africa’s fish, with dire consequences for local communities and ecosystems,” said John Hocevar, oceans campaign director for Greenpeace USA.

Dive deeper — 2 of 3 in this report — Footnotes 59–80

Fishmeal Sustainability: Walking North on a Southbound Train

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.”⁵⁹ 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.”⁶⁰ 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.”⁶¹

Ocean researchers and marine historians, however, offer a different view about global demand for fishmeal and farmed fish.⁶² 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.’”⁶³ 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.⁶⁴

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.⁶⁵ 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.⁶⁶ 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.⁶⁷ Overall demand for fishmeal also seems to be increasing.⁶⁸ 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.⁶⁹

Meanwhile, global fishmeal supplies could be tapped out as soon as 2028, according to Novel Sharma, a Rabobank analyst specializing in seafood and aquaculture.⁷⁰ “A shortage is inevitable,” the report said.⁷¹ 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 Senegal.

Flat sardinella (Sardinella maderensis)
^Source
Round sardinella (Sardinella aurita)
^Source
Bonga shad (Ethmalosa fimbriata)
^Source
European horse mackerel (Trachurus trachurus)
^Source
Cunene horse mackerel (Trachurus trecae)
^Source
Chub mackerel (Scomber colias)
^Source

Overfished, overexploited, collapsed, or at a critical level

At risk of overfishing

Assessing the climate impact of carnivorous fish farming is also complicated.⁷² The industry markets aquaculture seafood as a climate-friendly protein source.⁷³ 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.⁷⁴ 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.⁷⁵ 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.⁷⁶ 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.⁷⁷

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.⁷⁸ 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.⁷⁹ “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.⁸⁰

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In 2024, a coalition of Senegalese civil society organizations wrote to the government calling for the closure of all fishmeal plants. The letter warned that the industry was undermining food security, damaging marine biodiversity, and eliminating local jobs. Still, under the president elected in April 2024, the Senegalese government has signaled its intention to continue encouraging the “production of fish feed.”⁸¹^M

Researchers and advocates say a central problem is weak enforcement.⁸² Senegal’s government, they argue, has failed to adequately police both fishing and fishmeal production.⁸³ That failure has drawn international scrutiny. In 2023, the European Union issued Senegal a “yellow card” warning for insufficient cooperation in combating illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing—pressuring the country to overhaul its fisheries governance. Among the EU’s concerns was a lack of transparency in licensing and monitoring, shortcomings that indirectly implicate the fishmeal sector, since both foreign and domestic vessels overfish largely to supply reduction factories.

Senegal’s fishing industry has long benefited from government support. In 2018, the country provided at least $200 million in harmful fisheries subsidies, according to a study by the University of British Columbia.⁸⁴ Such subsidies are widely criticized for inflating fleet sizes and accelerating overfishing. A partial course correction came in 2025, when a World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement on fisheries subsidies entered into force. Under the deal, which is binding on Senegal and other WTO members, countries committed to banning subsidies linked to illegal, unregulated fishing and the exploitation of already overfished stocks.⁸⁵

Dive deeper — 3 of 3 in this report — Footnotes 86–116

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.⁸⁶ 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 Senegal 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 Senegal’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.⁸⁷

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.⁸⁸ 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.⁸⁹

Artisanal fishermen haul a seine net brimming with fish aboard a boat off the coast of Kafountine, Senegal, in the Casamance region. The ongoing struggle between small-scale artisanal boats and industrial trawlers has intensified, as industrial vessels frequently encroach on community-managed zones.Clement Tardif/Greenpeace

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.⁹⁰^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.”⁹¹ 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.⁹²

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.⁹³

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.⁹⁴ Countries also rely on Fishery Improvement Projects (FIPs), which aim to improve the management of participating fisheries.^M

Some ocean conservationists and labor groups have called for seafood companies and grocery chains to stop sourcing from companies or regions tied to labor, food safety, or sustainability concerns.⁹⁵ Spokespeople from several 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 the companies that source from those waters to play a larger role in preventing overfishing.⁹⁶

Responsibility

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.⁹⁷

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.⁹⁸ 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.”⁹⁹ 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.¹⁰⁰ 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.¹⁰¹

Traditional wooden pirogues crowded with fishers deploy seine nets off Kafountine in Senegal’s Casamance region. As the country advances its “blue economy” agenda, some coastal residents say industrial fishing and conservation projects have sidelined artisanal fleets and shifted the costs of ocean development onto local communities.Greenpeace

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.”¹⁰²

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.¹⁰³ 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

Fishmeal from Senegal offers a telling example. One plant, Omega Fishing, produces fishmeal that is shipped to a feed mill in Vietnam. Since 2011, that mill has been certified by BAP, which claims to guarantee “safe, responsible and ethical farm-raised seafood” and “healthful foods produced through environmentally and socially responsible means.”¹⁰⁴¹⁰⁵^M The feed is then supplied to some of Vietnam’s largest shrimp farms, which in turn sell shrimp to major grocers, including Walmart in Canada.¹⁰⁶ The shrimp is marketed to consumers as a more sustainable choice on the strength of its BAP certification.^M Omega Fishing and Walmart did not respond to requests for comment.¹⁰⁷

Yet BAP standards explicitly prohibit feed derived from species classified by the FAO as “overfished” or “overexploited.”¹⁰⁸ In 2023, the FAO designated sardinella as “overexploited” across Northwest Africa.¹⁰⁹ Omega Fishing uses sardinella in its fishmeal—introducing an apparent violation at the very start of a supply chain that ends on grocery shelves thousands of miles away. Omega Fishing did not respond to a request for comment.¹¹⁰

Other certification schemes show similar blind spots. The ASC, for instance, certifies sea bream and sea bass produced by Kılıç Deniz, a major Turkish aquaculture firm supplying British retailers such as Waitrose and Asda, according to a 2025 report by DeSmog, a UK-based investigative advocacy group.¹¹¹ ASC certification promises seafood sourced from fisheries that are at least “reasonably well managed, with healthy stock.” Asda and Waitrose did not respond to a request for comment.¹¹²

But much of the feed used by Kılıç Deniz is made with fishmeal sourced from Senegal—where fisheries are neither well managed nor healthy, according to UN fisheries officials. ASC told investigators that Senegal did not appear as a source country for whole marine ingredients in Kılıç’s 2024 audits, but added that fish from Senegal could still be used in feed “as long as the balance of ingredients meets its standards.” In other words, traceability dissolves once ingredients are blended. Kılıç Deniz did not respond to a request for comment.¹¹³

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.¹¹⁴ 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.¹¹⁵

Dana Cleaveley, a research consultant formerly with SeaChoice, a Canadian environmental advocacy organization focused on advancing sustainable seafood practices, said that historically, various industries have been forced to reckon with human rights and environmental crimes hidden within their supply chains. “Consider sweatshop garments, blood diamonds, and fair-trade coffee,” she said. The seafood industry, however, lags in terms of this type of accountability. As the world scrambles for protein and leans into aquaculture, this industry will have to catch up, she said. That’s likely to happen when more countries impose import controls on seafood that is tainted with illegalities or unsustainable practices. “That’s when investors will begin to see material, not just reputational, risk, and companies will have to adjust.”¹¹⁶

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Governance gaps persist. In 2019, the Environmental Justice Foundation analyzed Senegalese government landing and export data and found major discrepancies that suggested large volumes of fish caught by the industrial fleet were never officially reported.¹¹⁷ The public purse has also likely been deprived of revenue. In a 2022 FAO study, five Senegalese government officials said there is likely to be tax evasion by fishing and fishmeal companies because of the lack of close monitoring of industry tax payments.¹¹⁸

Reform efforts have advanced unevenly. In May 2024, Senegal’s Ministry of Fisheries pledged greater transparency and published a list of vessels authorized to operate in national waters—a move welcomed by civil-society groups. But momentum soon stalled. By August 2024, Senegal had failed to submit a formal application to the Fisheries Transparency Initiative, which subsequently delisted the country as a candidate for noncompliance with transparency standards.¹¹⁹

Fishing boats dock along the shore in Mbour, Senegal, in March 2024. In a country where over half the population cannot afford a healthy diet, fish prices more than doubled between 2019 and 2025, while fishmeal exports rose to an eight-year high in 2023, with several studies linking food insecurity and the growth of Senegal's fishmeal industry.The Outlaw Ocean Project

Advocates say meaningful reform would require politically difficult steps: restricting fishing effort, compensating affected communities, and coordinating stock management with neighboring countries such as Mauritania and The Gambia. For now, those measures remain, as one observer put it, “elusive.”¹²⁰

Mustapha Manneh, a researcher based in The Gambia who studies fishmeal and fish oil production in West Africa, said one downstream consequence of collapsing fish stocks and job displacement is migration.¹²¹ Families that for generations depended on fishing, he said, are now selling—or repurposing—their boats to flee to Europe. With few prospects at home, many attempt the more than 930-mile sea journey to Spain’s Canary Islands, a route that claimed more than 3,000 lives in 2025.¹²²

Rescuers carry the body of a drowned migrant ashore after a boat bound for the Canary Islands sank off Mbour in September 2024. As fish stocks collapse and livelihoods disappear, families increasingly attempt the perilous crossing to Europe.The Outlaw Ocean Project

Younger fishers, Manneh said, are increasingly abandoning the water altogether. Instead of trying to make a living at sea, they are turning to clandestine migration routes. Cheikh Fall, a 27-year-old fish farm worker, said he left Senegal in search of work in Europe after opportunities at home dried up. He was detained in Morocco and deported.¹²³ Another fisher, Sene, described attempting the same journey. His boat, he said, was intercepted by the Moroccan coast guard, which detained the passengers for roughly three days. Sene alleged that more than a dozen women were raped while in custody. Despite the dangers, he said he would likely attempt the crossing again.¹²⁴ The government of Morocco did not respond to a request for comment about the allegations of abuse.¹²⁵

For men like Pape Demba Sy, the link between dwindling fish stocks and migration was unmistakable. Once a skilled fisher supplying sardinella to women processors along the coast, Sy increasingly returned from day-long trips with empty nets. In 2006, he made his first attempt to cross the Atlantic to the Canary Islands, carrying just 50 euros, a photograph of his parents, and the hope of supporting his ailing mother. By 2011, as fishmeal plants further drained local waters, he made eight additional attempts—earning the nickname “Nine Times.”

Sy was repeatedly intercepted, detained in Morocco, or forced back by mechanical failures at sea. Still, he said, he would keep trying. “I am the hope of the family,” he explained. While processed sardinella flowed north to European markets, people like Sy remained trapped—narrowing not only the choices of fishers at sea, but also the livelihoods of women who depend on fish landings onshore.

For many, the journey ends in death. While Outlaw Ocean Project reporters were in Senegal, a pirogue carrying roughly 100 migrants capsized in early September 2024, killing more than two dozen people. “There’s no work. We’re fishermen,” said Cheikhou Omar, a 21-year-old survivor. “I go out for 10 days, and I come back with 20,000 francs. Sometimes I earn nothing.” On the same day, the Senegalese Navy intercepted two other boats carrying a total of 421 people attempting to migrate.¹²⁶

Watch VideoThe Lost Generation of Senegal

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Europe’s response has largely focused on deterrence. The European Union has paid African governments to intercept migrant boats at sea and return passengers to detention centers on the continent—facilities long criticized by human rights groups for abuse, including extortion, torture, and sexual violence.¹²⁷ In 2022, the EU and Senegal signed an agreement with Frontex, the EU’s border agency, authorizing joint patrols in Senegalese waters to intercept and turn back migrants attempting to reach Europe.

Overfishing and illegal fishing have also inflamed tensions between Senegal and its neighbors. In January 2018, fishers in Saint-Louis, Senegal, rioted after one of their colleagues was shot and killed by Mauritanian coast guards, according to a Reuters report.¹²⁸ During the confrontation, the Senegalese pirogue attempted to ram a Mauritanian patrol vessel. A coast guard officer fired in an effort to disable the boat’s engine and instead fatally struck the fisherman, a senior Mauritanian official told Reuters.¹²⁹

Conflict has also intensified closer to shore, between small-scale artisanal fishers and large industrial vessels. These larger ships—typically foreign-owned—primarily catch fish for export for human consumption. They frequently encroach into coastal zones traditionally reserved for artisanal fishers, who operate pirogues or small wooden canoes and increasingly supply their catch to fishmeal plants. Fishers say industrial vessels have rammed their boats, cut lines, destroyed nets, or dumped fish overboard.¹³⁰

To avoid such losses, fishers like Abdoul Sene, a 30-year-old from Keur Moussa, now haul in their nets each night rather than leaving them drifting offshore.¹³¹ The practice protects their gear but reduces their catch.¹³² “Sometimes we pour gasoline to fire up their boats, sometimes we throw stones,” Abdoul Sene said. “But the Chinese pull out weapons.”¹³³ Under Senegalese law, the government has the authority to establish exclusive fishing zones for artisanal fleets. To date, it has never done so.¹³⁴

The government has also licensed vessels with histories of alleged violations. Nearly half a dozen Chinese ships belonging to the Fu Yuan Yu fleet—a group repeatedly cited by Global Fishing Watch in 2016 and Greenpeace in 2020—have been authorized to fish in Senegalese waters.¹³⁵^M These vessels have been linked to illegal or unsustainable practices, including spoofing their AIS signals to conceal their true locations. Senegalese officials faced criticism in local media for issuing the licenses after previously pledging not to authorize new foreign industrial vessels.¹³⁶^M

Fishers work in Popenguine, Senegal. Fish is a key source of affordable protein, and the Food and Agriculture Organization projects that by the mid-to-late 2020s, the country could face an annual shortfall of about 150,000 tons for human consumption.Greenpeace

Monitoring industrial and fishmeal-linked vessels in Senegalese waters has proven difficult. Between 2019 and 2024, at least nine ships went “dark,” switching off their tracking transponders for a week or more. Over the same period, at least 22 vessels likely engaged in transshipment—transferring catch at sea rather than returning to port—according to research by the Allen Institute for AI.¹³⁷ Fourteen of those incidents reportedly occurred in Senegalese waters, where transshipment is illegal because it obscures where fish are caught and how much is taken.¹³⁸

Gaps in vessel identification further complicate oversight. At least 200 ships operating in the fleet lack International Maritime Organization (IMO) numbers, which are required under international maritime rules. Another 280 vessels are missing from the FAO Global Record, a key database used to track fishing activity worldwide.¹³⁹^M

Most of Senegal’s fishmeal production is exported, primarily to Vietnam, Spain, and Turkey. Fishmeal exports more than doubled between 2022 and 2023.¹⁴⁰ Fish oil shipments went mainly to Spain, Chile, Oman, and Denmark.¹⁴¹ In 2023, the fishmeal and fish oil sector generated more than $19 million in export revenue.¹⁴²^M

Locally, however, the economic benefits are uneven. In 2018, the fishmeal industry created roughly 120 temporary jobs and 264 permanent ones, according to the FAO.¹⁴³ By contrast, Senegal’s fisheries sector as a whole employs more than 600,000 people.¹⁴⁴ Civil society groups argue that job figures tied to fishmeal plants obscure broader losses. “Competition with the thousands of professional players active at the post-capture level is a major problem,” Rampao reported.¹⁴⁵

Women fish processors sort smoked fish in Bargny, a suburb of Dakar. Over the past decade, foreign investment has fueled the growth of Senegal’s fishmeal industry, diverting catch from local markets.Clément Tardif/Greenpeace

Local markets are already feeling the strain. In some communities, the number of women involved in fish processing has fallen from more than 300 to about 70, according to a 2022 study by Feedback EU.¹⁴⁶ Many were priced out by rising costs and dwindling access to fish. The study also found that fishmeal factories failed to deliver on promises of job creation and tax revenue—leaving communities with fewer fish, fewer livelihoods, and little to show in return.¹⁴⁷

For communities living near Senegal’s fishmeal plants, air and water pollution have long been among the most common complaints. In April 2018, a fishmeal factory operated by Société des Produits Halieutiques opened in Abéné. Soon after, residents reported an overwhelming stench, thick black smoke, and untreated wastewater flowing into rice fields and garden wells, according to Malagen, a Senegalese news outlet.¹⁴⁸ Within weeks, Abéné’s beach was littered with dead fish. Investigators suspected the die-off was caused by pollution discharged from the plant.

Residents of Kayar pour fish into piles for processing. In 2022, a fishers’ collective in Kayar claimed that pollution from the Touba Proteine Marine fishmeal factory was imperiling local fishers’ livelihoods and endangering public health.Aida Grovestins/Greenpeace/Mongabay

Residents mobilized quickly. Youth groups and environmental activists organized protests, submitted petitions, and staged open-air screenings of the documentary Poisson d’or, Poisson d’Afrique to pressure authorities to intervene. A community referendum overseen by the Ministry of Environment found that more than 90 percent of respondents opposed the factory. After six neighboring villages issued a joint memorandum rejecting what they called a “killer” and “toxic” industry, the government suspended the plant’s operations in July 2018.¹⁴⁹

Concerns persisted elsewhere. A 2022 FAO study found that the five fishmeal plants then operating in Senegal were associated with rising respiratory illnesses—including rhinitis and chronic cough—particularly among children, the elderly, and people with preexisting conditions.¹⁵⁰ That same year, residents in Kayar accused a local fishmeal plant of emitting noxious odors, contaminating water sources, competing unfairly with traditional processors, and engaging in corrupt practices.¹⁵¹ A community coalition released video footage showing company trucks allegedly dumping waste into a nearby lake.^M A water analysis ordered by local authorities in September 2022 confirmed severe organic pollution, including deoxygenation that harmed aquatic life.¹⁵² In January 2023, Kayar’s municipal government banned wastewater discharges into local waterways.¹⁵³ Later that year, multiple legal complaints were filed seeking the closure of Touba Proteine Marine.¹⁵⁴^M

A truck from Touba Proteine Marine (formerly Barna Senegal) dumps waste in a lake in Kayar. This video was evidence in a court case brought by the local community against Touba, alleging illegal dumping.Greenpeace

Demba Badiane, a 44-year-old fisher from the coastal village of Mballing, said polluted water from a nearby factory had rendered farmland infertile and decimated fish stocks. “We no longer saw any fish within three kilometers,” he said in a March 2024 interview with The Outlaw Ocean Project. “The fish were dying, and you could see them along the shore.” He described wastewater being discharged directly into the sea, followed by dead fish surfacing nearby.¹⁵⁵

In October, 2024, an Outlaw Ocean researcher visited the Bel Meal fishmeal plant in Mbour. Greenpeace spoke out against the plant’s opening in 2021, saying it was a violation of the government's promise not to open new fishmeal factories in the area.The Outlaw Ocean Project

Despite zoning rules that prohibit fishmeal plants from being built within 500 meters—about 550 yards—of residential areas, a review of satellite imagery and interviews with local residents identified at least four facilities that appeared to violate the rule.¹⁵⁶^M

Satellite imagery shows existing homes within 550 yards of four different fishmeal plants under construction.

Concerns surrounding the boats that supply Senegal’s fishmeal plants extend beyond environmental damage. Labor researchers have documented debt bondage and child labor within the fleet. According to a 2023 report by Partner Africa, more than a third of operating fishing vessels—ranging from small artisanal pirogues to larger purse seiners—had their operating costs paid upfront by factory owners or fishmongers.¹⁵⁷ Those costs typically include food, fuel, bait, and basic provisions. In return, fishers are required to sell their catch at a fixed, prearranged price. The arrangement, the report found, creates a high risk of debt bondage, trapping workers in cycles of labor for little or no pay as they struggle to repay mounting debts.¹⁵⁸ The same study found that roughly a third of Senegal’s artisanal boats carried children—some as young as eight—working at sea.¹⁵⁹

Despite these concerns, Senegal’s fishmeal industry has expanded rapidly. Beginning in the early 2010s, foreign investment—largely from Chinese and European firms—poured into West Africa to build fishmeal and fish oil factories geared toward export markets in Europe and Asia. The result was a gold rush for small pelagic fish. By 2019, roughly 50 fishmeal and fish oil plants were operating across Mauritania, Senegal, and The Gambia, according to Greenpeace.¹⁶⁰ Over the decade ending in 2021, the industry expanded tenfold along the West African coast.¹⁶¹

A man smokes fish in Fass Boye in May 2019. Small pelagic species such as flat and round sardinella have long been dietary staples in Senegal, but rising fishing pressure and demand from fishmeal plants have sharply increased prices for fresh and dried fish.Elodie Martial/Greenpeace

The cumulative impact has been severe. By 2018, fishmeal factories were absorbing an estimated 90 percent of the region’s total small pelagic catch. During the same period, stocks of flat and round sardinella fell to their lowest levels on record, according to a 2024 analysis of fish stocks and factory growth.¹⁶² In Senegal, the government has actively courted foreign investment in an effort to manage a trade deficit that reached $5.75 billion in 2025 and a foreign debt burden of roughly $40 billion.¹⁶³ To attract fishmeal producers, authorities offered generous incentives, including a 50 percent income-tax reduction and exemptions from import duties.¹⁶⁴

Residents go about their daily routines in the fishing village of Fass Boye. Expanding fishmeal and fish oil industries in Mauritania, Senegal, and The Gambia have increased pressure on regional stocks vital to local food security and livelihoods.Greenpeace

Managing the fallout is complicated by the transboundary nature of West Africa’s fisheries. Many key species migrate freely along the coast, meaning overfishing in one country quickly affects stocks in another. Sardinella alone travels across a range of roughly 1,000 miles, spanning nearly the entire West African shoreline. According to Oceana, the proliferation of fishmeal plants in the region can be traced directly to European demand for farmed salmon, which relies heavily on fishmeal.¹⁶⁵ The result, researchers argue, is a form of “nutrient colonialism”—or food imperialism—in which protein is extracted from food-insecure regions to feed consumers elsewhere. “The aquaculture and fishmeal industries, along with Western seafood buyers, are fuelling a modern-day food-feed competition with little regard for its consequences,” concluded a 2024 study by Feedback Global.¹⁶⁶

These concerns have begun to ripple through global supply chains. Several major fish-feed companies, including Skretting and Mowi, say they have avoided sourcing fishmeal and fish oil from West Africa—including Senegal—since 2023, citing sustainability and social-risk concerns.¹⁶⁷

Footnotes (167)

“Fish Oil and Meal: Cayar’s Population Stands Up Against the ‘Barna Senegal’ Factory,” (archived) Seneweb, August 20, 2022. The Buzz Senegal YouTube video, (archived) August 20, 2022. (archived)
The Serigne Mbaye Facebook post (archived) August 20, 2022. Video of protesters in the streets. (archived) Video of protesters in a white truck. (archived) “Today we came out massively against Barna Senegal, the flour and fish oil factory planted in Kayar my hometown that causes serious problems.”
The Serigne Mbaye Facebook post (archived) August 20, 2022. Video of protesters in the streets. (archived) Video of protesters in a white truck. (archived) “Today we came out massively against Barna Senegal, the flour and fish oil factory planted in Kayar my hometown that causes serious problems.”
See Bait to Plate.
“Fish Oil and Meal: Cayar’s Population Stands Up Against the ‘Barna Senegal’ Factory,” (archived) Seneweb, August 20, 2022. The Buzz Senegal YouTube video, (archived) August 20, 2022. (archived)
The Serigne Mbaye Facebook post (archived) August 20, 2022. Video of protesters in the streets. (archived) Video of protesters in a white truck. (archived) “Today we came out massively against Barna Senegal, the flour and fish oil factory planted in Kayar my hometown that causes serious problems.”
“Law No. 2023-15 relating to the Environmental Code,” (archived) Republic of Senegal, August 2, 2023.
To view The Outlaw Ocean Project’s email in full, visit the Discussion page. (Touba Proteine Marina) (Barna)
See Bait to Plate.
“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,” (archived) Society of Chemical Industry, 2021. TMA has been “reported as a carcinogenic compound,” wrote Thai researchers in 2019. “Lignin and holocellulose from coir pith involved in trimethylamine (fishy odor) adsorption,” (archived) Journal of Environmental Sciences, 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,” (archived) Journal of Environmental Management, 2019.
See Bait to Plate. Stink radius population counts spreadsheet.
“Socio-Economic And Biological Impacts Of The Fish-Based Feed Industry For Sub-Saharan Africa,” (archived) Food and Agriculture Organization, 2022.
“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 (FAO), 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.
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. A 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. Spencer’s 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.
“Blue Empire – How your supermarket salmon is impacting communities in West Africa,” (archived) Feedback Global, February 1, 2024, page 17.
International Trade Centre website (archived), Senegalese fishmeal exports, sheet one, spreadsheet, 2023. In 2023, only Mauritania and Guinea exported more fishmeal than Senegal. “Senegal’s exports of fishmeal and fish oil ‘explode,’” Coalition for Fair Fisheries Arrangements, (archived) June 13, 2024. Fishmeal and fish oil exports increased by 86 percent and 129 percent, respectively, between 2021 and 2022. “Fish oil and fishmeal industry harming food security in west Africa, warns UN,” The Guardian, (archived) February 10, 2022. Some reports say that there are only 6 registered fishmeal plants in Senegal. One such report is “Revealed: UK Supermarket Seabass Linked to Devastating Overfishing in Senegal,” DeSmog, (archived) May 22, 2025.
“At the Tipping Point: How bottom trawling is precipitating the collapse of Senegal’s artisanal fisheries,” (archived) Environmental Justice Foundation, October 2023, page 9. For more information, consult “Ocean Shock: Plundering Africa: Voracious fishmeal factories intensify the pressure of climate change,” (archived) Reuters Investigates, October 30, 2018.
“Revealed: UK Supermarket Seabass Linked to Devastating Overfishing in Senegal,” (archived) DeSmog, May 22, 2025.
For information on the connection between food insecurity and the growth of the fishmeal industry, consult “Senegalese civil society outlines the challenges of the new president’s programme for small-scale fisheries,” Coalition for Fair Fisheries Arrangements, (archived) April 9, 2024, and “Marketing of small coastal pelagics in Senegal: forms of development and issues surrounding the resource,” EchoGéo (archived) 2021, pages i, 10, 15-16. The paper offers a retrospective and prospective evaluation of the 2019-2024 protocol in place to implement the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the EU and Senegal and references the study “Dynamics of Senegalese fishery product exports and impacts on local market supply,” Environmental Dynamics, (archived) 2020. The study is also referenced in the report “At the Tipping Point: How bottom trawling is precipitating the collapse of Senegal’s artisanal fisheries,” Environmental Justice Foundation, (archived) October 2023.
“How Senegalese Fish End Up in Factory Farms,” (archived) Sentient Media, September 27, 2022. The Sentient Media YouTube video, (archived) September 27, 2022. (archived)
“Interview between Fatou Samba and The Outlaw Ocean staff,” Bargny Commune, Senegal, March 2023.
“The hidden cost of your supermarket salmon,” (archived) Financial Times, January 31, 2024.
“Short-term projection of global fish demand and supply gaps,” (archived) FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Technical Paper No. 607, 2017.
“Senegal,” (archived) Fsin Platform, 2024.
“Illuminating the multidimensional contributions of small-scale fisheries,” (archived) Nature, January 15, 2025.
“Contribution of small-scale migrant fishing to the emergence of the fishmeal industry in West Africa: Cases of Mauritania, Senegal and the Gambia,” (archived) Frontiers in Marine Science, March 28, 2023.
“Small pelagic fish in Senegal: a multi-usage resource,” (archived) Marine Policy, 2022.
FAO Fishery Committee for the Eastern Central Atlantic, Outcomes of the 9th Scientific Sub-committee, (archived) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 2023.
“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. Scientists caution that the boom-bust nature of reduction fisheries often makes it difficult to estimate their longer-term health.
“Land Grab? The Race for the World’s Farmland,” (archived) Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 2009.
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.
“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
“Uncle Sam and the Magic Beanstalk,” (archived) Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2024.
“Socio-Economic And Biological Impacts Of The Fish-Based Feed Industry For Sub-Saharan Africa,” (archived) Food and Agriculture Organization, 2022.
“Interview between Ibrahima Samb and The Outlaw Ocean staff,” Joal-Fadiouth, Senegal, October 2024.
“Interview between Ibrahima Samb and The Outlaw Ocean staff,” Joal-Fadiouth, Senegal, October 2024.
For information relating to this plant’s use of sardinella, consult “Report of the 7th Mbour Forum,” (archived) Association for the Promotion and Empowerment of Maritime Artisanal Fishing Actors, September 13, 2017. Additionally, video footage captured from inside Omega Proteins Inc. in 2025 shows whole fish being processed. In 2023, both round sardinella and flat sardinella were assessed to have been “in a critical situation marked by heavy overexploitation” by the FAO Fishery Committee for the Eastern Central Atlantic. For information on FAO assessment of these fish populations, consult FAO Fishery Committee for the Eastern Central Atlantic, Outcomes of the 9th Scientific Sub-committee, (archived) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 2023.
License for the Touba fishmeal plant specifying the prohibition of the use of whole fish for fishmeal, Senegal Ministry of Fisheries, 2021.
To view The Outlaw Ocean Project’s emails in full, visit the Discussion page.
“At the Tipping Point: How bottom trawling is precipitating the collapse of Senegal’s artisanal fisheries report,” (archived) Environmental Justice Foundation, October 2023, page 2.
“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 “Fishmeal Sustainability: Walking North on a Southbound Train”
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
“Senegalese civil society outlines the challenges of the new president’s programme for small-scale fisheries,” (archived) Coalition for Fair Fisheries Arrangements, April 9, 2024.
“How Senegalese Fish End Up in Factory Farms,” (archived) Sentient Media, September 27, 2022. The Sentient Media YouTube video, (archived) September 27, 2022. (archived)
“Senegal’s exports of fishmeal and fish oil ‘explode,’” (archived) Coalition for Fair Fisheries Arrangements, June 13, 2024. Fishmeal and fish oil exports increased by 86 percent and 129 percent, respectively, between 2021 and 2022.
These subsidies were not for the fishmeal fleet specifically, but rather for the country’s entire fishing fleet. “Updated estimates and analysis of global fisheries subsidies,” (archived) University of British Columbia, September 2019, page 7.
“FiTI supports implementation of WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies with new Fisheries Information System (FIS),” (archived) Fisheries Transparency Initiative, September 2025.
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.
“A 20-year retrospective review of global aquaculture,” (archived) Nature, 2021.
“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)
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.
Between 2023 and 2024, Omega Fishing sent at least 10 shipments of fishmeal to Grobest Industrial in Vietnam. For more information, consult the Omega fishing export records in Bait to Plate.
Best Aquaculture Practices “Home,” (archived) webpage, 2023. For more information, consult “Feed Mills Standard: Best Aquaculture Practices Certification Standard,” (archived) Global Seafood Alliance, 2024. For information relating to the certification of Công Ty Trách Nhiệm Hữu Hạn Grobest Industrial (Việt Nam), consult “Sustainability Report, 2023,” (archived) Grobest, 2023.
Grobest Vietnam sells shrimp feeds to hatcheries and farms in Vietnam that supply some of the major Vietnamese aquaculture companies. This includes Minh Phu, one of the largest shrimp exporters in the world. “Grobest-Minh Phu: Two strong brands ‘join hands’, shrimp industry benefits,” (archived) Thuysan Vietnam, June 7, 2020. “Fishing for Catastrophe report,” (archived) Changing Markets, October 2019.Shrimp products sold via Minh Phu’s American subsidiary company, Mseafood, are available at Whole Foods (archived). Packaging for these shrimp products shows the country of origin as Vietnam and that it was farm raised. Minh Phu sent shipments of shrimp products to Canadian importers Frobisher International Enterprise Ltd and Premier Marine Canada Inc. See Bait to Plate. Shrimp products sold under Frobrisher International’s Ocean Mama brand are available at Walmart (archived) Premier Marine Canada, Grobest Industrial (Vietnam), Minh Phu, Frobisher International, and Walmart did not respond to a request for comment. To view The Outlaw Ocean Project's email in full, visit the Discussion page. (Premier Marine Canada) (Grobest Industrial (Vietnam)) (Minh Phu Seafood JSC) (Frobisher International) (Walmart)
To view The Outlaw Ocean Project's email in full, visit the Discussion page. (Omega Fishing) (Walmart)
Section 4 - Environment, Sustainability of key inputs: Fishmeal, Fish Oil, Soy and Palm Oil, of the Best Aquaculture Practices Feed Mills Standard requires that, “Facilities shall create and implement clear Plans of Action that…Exclude fishmeal or fish oil sourced from fish or fish by-products from fisheries designated by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, National Marine Fisheries Service of the United States, International Union for Conservation of Nature or Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources as “subject to overfishing,” “overfished,” “harvested unsustainably,” “fishery closed,” “stock overexploited,” “no fishing recommended,” “stock critical,” “endangered” or “critically endangered.”” For more information, consult “Feed Mills Standard: Best Aquaculture Practices Certification Standard,” (archived) Global Seafood Alliance, 2024, page 20.
For information relating to this plant’s use of sardinella, consult “Report of the 7th Mbour Forum,” (archived) (archived) Association for the Promotion and Empowerment of Maritime Artisanal Fishing Actors, September 13, 2017. Additionally, video footage captured from inside Omega Proteins Inc. in 2025 shows whole fish being processed. In 2023, both round sardinella and flat sardinella were assessed to have been “in a critical situation marked by heavy overexploitation” by the FAO Fishery Committee for the Eastern Central Atlantic. For information on FAO assessment of these fish populations, consult FAO Fishery Committee for the Eastern Central Atlantic, Outcomes of the 9th Scientific Sub-committee, (archived) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 2023.
To view The Outlaw Ocean Project’s email in full, visit the Discussion page. (Omega Fishing)
“Revealed: UK Supermarket Seabass Linked to Devastating Overfishing in Senegal,” (archived) DeSmog, 2025. For Waitrose, consult “Site List for own Brand Home, Fashion, and Food,” (archived) John Lewis Partnership, 2025. Trade data acquired from Panjiva corroborates that Senegalese companies have sent fishmeal to Kılıç Deniz. Afric Azote sent at least one shipment of fishmeal to Kılıç Deniz in 2024. Panjiva data.
To view The Outlaw Ocean Project’s email in full, visit the Discussion page. (Asda) (Waitrose)
To view The Outlaw Ocean Project’s email in full, visit the Discussion page. (Kılıç Deniz)
“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 Outlaw Ocean Project interviewed Dana Cleaveley by phone in November 2025.
The report resumes
“At the Tipping Point: How bottom trawling is precipitating the collapse of Senegal’s artisanal fisheries,” (archived) Environmental Justice Foundation, box 1, October 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, page 47.
“Senegal’s fishing vessel list declared a ‘leap forward’ for transparency,” (archived) Dialogue Earth, July 2024.
“Revealed: UK Supermarket Seabass Linked to Devastating Overfishing in Senegal,” (archived) DeSmog, May 22, 2025.
Research by academics, the United National’s International Organization for Migration, and civil society organizations have also drawn the connection between overfishing and depleted fish stocks and outward migration in Senegal. In a 2023 study published in the Journal of Rural Affairs, many local fishers interviewed for the study identified overfishing and depletion of fishing stocks as a driving factor of seeking to migrate. “Migration and the right to survival: An empirical study of three fishing communities in Senegal,” (archived) ScienceDirect, April 2023. In a study commissioned by the International Organization for Migration from 2019, researchers identified environmental degradation, including the scarcity of fisheries, and “the poor business in fishery” as underlying factors driving migration in Senegal. “Senegal — Research Brief — New Migration Dynamics in Senegal: Understanding the Reactivation of the Western African Route,” (archived) International Organization for Migration, October 2019. A report published by the Environmental Justice Foundation identifies the link between overfishing, IUU fishing, and broader fisheries decline in Senegal as a factor driving migration to Europe. “The Deadly Route to Europe: How illegal fishing and overfishing in Senegal is driving migration,” (archived) Environmental Justice Foundation, May 13, 2025.
“3,000 Migrants Died in 2025 on their Way to Spain,” (archived) Deep Sea Reporter, December 30, 2025.
“Interview between Cheikh Fall and The Outlaw Ocean staff,” Dakar Bango village in Saint Louis, Senegal, March 2023.
“Interview between Abdoul Sene and The Outlaw Ocean staff,” Keur Massar Commune, Senegal, March 2023.
To view The Outlaw Ocean Project’s email in full, visit the Discussion page. (Government of Morocco)
“EU considers sending border agency to help patrol Senegal’s waters,” (archived) Seafood Source, March 2, 2022.
“Chapter 9: The EU’s New Pact on Migration and Asylum: Towards a Long-Term Sustainable European Migration Policy?” (archived) Andrea Spehar, The Depth and Size of the European Union in a Time of War, 2025.
“Ocean Shock: Plundering Africa: Voracious fishmeal factories intensify the pressure of climate change,” (archived) Reuters Investigates, October 30, 2018.
“Ocean Shock: Plundering Africa: Voracious fishmeal factories intensify the pressure of climate change,” (archived) Reuters Investigates, October 30, 2018. Aerial footage of the commercial fishing beach at Joal Fadiouth, Senegal. (archived) Aerial footage showing the close proximity between a polluted lagoon, a wildlife refuge, the beach, and the Golden Lead fishmeal factory in Gunjur, The Gambia. (archived)
“Interview between Abdoul Sene and The Outlaw Ocean staff,” Keur Massar Commune, Senegal, March 2023.
“Interview between Mor Mbengue and The Outlaw Ocean staff,” Kayar, Senegal, March 2023.
“Interview between Abdoul Sene and The Outlaw Ocean staff,” Keur Massar Commune, Senegal, March 2023.
“Interview between Abdoul Sene and The Outlaw Ocean staff,” Keur Massar Commune, Senegal, March 2023.
“The role of artisanal fishing ‘exclusive’ zones in preferential access to resources,” (archived) The Coalition for Fair Fisheries Arrangements, December 11, 2023. Senegal has created a bottom trawling ban covering about 7 miles. But this does not ban other types of industrial fishing, according to the coalition.
The names of the ships that were granted licenses were the Fu Yuan Yu 9881, the Fu Yuan Yu 9885, the Fu Yuan Yu 9886, the Fu Yuan Yu 9887, and the Fu Yuan Yu 9888.
“Seasick: As Covid locks down West Africa its waters remain open to plunder report,” (archived) Greenpeace, October 2020. For a deeper discussion on the criticism of fishing licenses issued to foreign industrial entities, consult the following articles: “Chinese trawlers with an illegal fishing record have been licensed by Senegal,” Quartz, (archived) October 9, 2020, “West Africa: Factory ships accused of plundering fisheries resources,” Afrik21, (archived) October 15, 2020, “Senegalese fisheries stakeholders protest against its government intention to issue 54 fishing licenses to Chinese and Turkish vessels,” Coalition for Fair Fisheries Arrangements (archived), April 20, 2020, and the MbourTV YouTube video (archived) with the president of the Association for the Promotion and Empowerment of Small-Scale Maritime Fishers denouncing the Senegalese Ministry of Fisheries opaque licensing practices. (archived)
Based on an assessment of publicly available location data conducted by the Allen Institute for AI.
“Transshipment at Sea: The need for a ban in West Africa” (archived) Environmental Justice Foundation, 2013. Transshipment may be authorized in exceptional cases by the Senegalese minister responsible for maritime fisheries. The relevant legislation treats unauthorized transhipment as a very serious industrial fishing offense. For details on the relevant laws, see: “Senegal: Marine Fisheries Code,” 2015.
Based on an assessment of a dozen databases using a tool created by The Outlaw Ocean Project called the Ship Scraper. To read further about the ingredients used to make that tool, consult “Methodology.”
International Trade Centre website (archived), Senegalese fishmeal exports, sheet one, spreadsheet, 2023. “Senegal’s exports of fishmeal and fish oil ‘explode,’” (archived) Coalition for Fair Fisheries Arrangements, June 13, 2024. Fishmeal and fish oil exports increased by 86 percent and 129 percent, respectively, between 2021 and 2022.
International Trade Centre website (archived), Senegalese fish oil exports, sheet two, spreadsheet, 2023.
International Trade Centre website (archived), Senegalese fishmeal and fish oil exports, sheet one, spreadsheet, 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.
“A Waste of Fish: Food security under threat from the fishmeal and fish oil industry in West Africa,” (archived) Greenpeace, June 2019. As of 2022, research indicated that the industry employed about 40,000 women. “Fisheries and aquaculture in Senegal,” (archived) US Department of Agriculture, November 22, 2022.
“Socio-economic impacts of the fishmeal and fish oil industry in the Gambia, Mauritania and Senegal,” (archived) Rampao, January 2024.
“Senegalese Community Mobilises Against the Harmful Fishmeal Industry,” (archived) Feedback EU, October 1, 2024.
“Our Survival Depends on the Oceans,” (archived) Feedback EU, December 20, 2022.
“A Foreign-owned Fishmeal Factory Causes a Stink in Senegal,” (archived) Malagen, January 2, 2024.
“A Foreign-owned Fishmeal Factory Causes a Stink in Senegal,” (archived) Malagen, January 2, 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.
“The Fervent Fight Over Fish Meal,” (archived) Hakai Magazine, August 11, 2023.
“Fished out at sea and smoked out on land, Senegal fishers take on a fishmeal factory,” (archived) Mongabay, October 6, 2022. The Mongabay YouTube video, (archived) October 7, 2022. “A collective of fishers is mobilizing to close a fishmeal factory in Senegal.” (archived)
“Cayar community launches new phase of legal challenge against polluting fishmeal factory after major campaign breakthrough,” (archived) Greenpeace, January 23, 2023. Video (archived) of wastewater dumping into a lake was archived by Greenpeace, May 27, 2022. (archived) Greenpeace Video (archived) of drone footage of the Touba plant. (archived)
“The Fervent Fight Over Fish Meal,” (archived) Hakai Magazine, August 11, 2023.
“Interview between Demba Badiane and The Outlaw Ocean Staff,” Mballing Village, Mbour, Senegal, March 2024.
At least four plants in Senegal are cited via interviews with residents or via satellite imagery as falling illegally within the prohibited 500 meters, or about 550 yards, of a residential area. This includes Touba Proteine Marine, Omega Fishing, Africa Feed, and Sen Sea. “A Foreign-owned Fishmeal Factory Causes a Stink in Senegal,” (archived) an article published in Earth Journalism, November 19, 2021, references an environmental code that “stipulates that such industrial complexes cannot be located less than 500 meters from homes.” Additionally, all fishmeal plants are required to be subject to an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment. These legal requirements are established under Article L48 of Law No. 2001-01 (archived) from January 15, 2001, in Senegal, according to the African Development Bank (archived). The legislation is found under Article L13, which states, “Facilities classified under the first category must obtain an operating authorization before their construction or commissioning. This authorization is issued by order of the Minister responsible for the Environment, in accordance with the conditions set by decree. The authorization is mandatory and contingent upon the facility being located at least 500 meters away from residential buildings, buildings regularly occupied by third parties, establishments open to the public, areas designated for residential use, watercourses, lakes, communication routes, and water catchment areas.” In 2023, Senegal adopted a new Environmental Code (Law No. 2023-15 from August 2, 2023). One of its innovations was to broaden the scope of classified installations for environmental protection. Article 44 stipulates that the provisions of this chapter (Title IV, Chapter 1 Classified Installations for Environmental Protection) apply to plants, workshops, and, in a general manner, to all activities that present risks for the environment and public health. There is a reference to the prohibition of building any Category 1 Classified Installations for Environmental Protection within a 500-meter radius, or about 550 yards, from any dwellings, apartment buildings, or any establishment open to the public. But this prohibition applies to Classified Installations for Environmental Protection whose activities present a risk of explosion or flammability only. The classification of fishmeal plants is not directly specified within the code. For more information, consult the full text of the Environmental Code of Senegal (archived).
“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.
“Track the fish: a human rights assessment of the small pelagic fish value chain in Senegal and Mauritania,” (archived) Partner Africa, 2023.
“Expanding Fishmeal Factories: A Threat To Food Security & The Environment report,” (archived) Greenpeace, 2021.
“Report: Fishmeal Industry Depletes West African Waters,” (archived) Africa Defense Forum, June 23, 2021.
“Revealed: Industry-led West Africa Fishery Protection Measures Marred By ‘Massive Conflicts of Interest,’” DeSmog, (archived), July 4, 2024, figure 3. 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,” FAO (archived) 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, “Monitoring of Fishmeal and Fish Oil Factories in Mauritania: 2021 & 2022,” pages 328-336. 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.
“Senegal: A concerning report on external debt in 2024,” (archived) Seneweb, December 5, 2024.
“Senegal Highlights,” (archived) Deloitte, January 2023.
“Overfishing in West Africa: How EU companies are contributing to depleting vital fish stocks,” (archived) Oceana, February 10, 2025.
“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 three 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.
“Marine ingredients responsible sourcing policy,” Skretting, (archived) 2022. “Statement on the sourcing of aquafeed for farmed salmon in Scotland and Norway,” Foodrise, (archived) November 26, 2024. “Fish Farming Industry is Using ‘Misleading’ Figures to Downplay its Role in Overfishing, New Research Finds,” DeSmog, (archived) November 21, 2024.