UnEarth Magazine.

Words by Ru Todd

In June, the EU passed the harshest immigration law in their history. The new “return regulation” law allows member states to deport people to detention centers outside EU territory, far from judicial protection and media attention. As the law was passed, right-wing MEPs broke into a chant: “Send them back, send them back!” The same cry now echoes through anti-immigration protests across Europe.

This was no stand-alone outburst. As populism rises, European leaders keep tightening migration policy and walking away from the human rights commitments that protect people seeking asylum. For the last decade we’ve heard constantly about a “migration crisis”, but we hardly ever hear why people are leaving. The rise in “irregular” immigration is frequently reported on, but not so frequently contextualised. Why are so many people arriving at Europe’s borders? Why has the Mediterranean become the deadliest migration route?

For West Africa, part of the answer is empty nets. More than 6.7 million people in the region depend directly on artisanal fishing for food or income. Yet decades of exploitative international fishing agreements have left all of its fishing grounds fully or over-exploited. Coastal catch In Cote d’Ivoire dropped 40 % between 2003 and 2020. In Ghana, small-fish catch fell by 59% from 1993 to 2019. Fish prices have risen 1.5 to 4 times. Now, a staggering 30% of the population of West Africa suffer from malnutrition, well above the global rate of 20%.

There are several reasons why West Africa’s fish are disappearing. All are linked to exploitation by wealthy nations, namely the EU and China.

Global demand for fish has been increasing for centuries. In the 2000s, the EU recognised that its own waters could not meet demand and set out to open West Africa’s waters to its industrial fleets. Fisheries previously under state control were privatised under reform backed by the World Bank. Meanwhile, the EU worked alongside them, spending millions on subsidised bilateral agreements to send fishing fleets into the waters of partner countries, most of which are West African.

These fleets play by their own rules. They engage in high numbers of illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing practices, often encroaching on artisanal zones, using destructive gear, and catching undersized fish. They practice “Saiko” trade, transferring catch to local canoes at sea to dodge quotas, and rerouting through ports of convenience to escape EU health and verification checks. Between 2000 and 2010, the EU reported only 524,300 tons of their actual 1,836,900 tons of catches from West Africa. In the same decade, illegal catch in Senegal was valued at US$10 million, against the $50.9 million in legal catch. One 2022 analysis found that 38% of EU flagged or EU-owned vessels committed at least one reported criminal offence in West Africa between 2000 and 2020.

Punishment remains nearly nonexistent. Even when caught for illegal practices, companies are rarely fined, with Chinese vessels in Senegal being charged only $1,000 for illegal fishing. This is not the only form of exploitation the EU engages in. China and the EU both circumvent regulations by buying local firms and flying the local flag to allow them to fish in African waters. At least a fifth of the 132 industrial fishing trawlers flying a Senegalese flag are owned by joint ventures with EU-based parent companies. This allows European industrial fleets to catch fish not authorized by previous agreements, and grants them access to fishing zones in neighboring countries where they pay less for port fees and fishing rights.

In Senegal, these exploitative practices are rampant. Overexploitation of fish stocks by treaty partners and illegal vessels costs the government an estimated $272 million a year. The cost of regenerating Africa’s stocks and the income lost between 1980 and 2016 has been an estimated US$326 billion. African small-scale fishers’ incomes have fallen more than over 40% in the last decade alone. As fisheries employ around 17% of the workforce, 20% of national export revenues, 75% of populations animal protein intake, and 80% of annual catch, this has severely undermined livelihood and food security. Many Senegalese say their government “sold our ocean”. With over a third of the country in poverty, exacerbated by these conditions, thousands of Senegalese artisanal fishers and their families have found that staying is not an option.

For many, leaving is the only option left, and EU border policy has made the journey increasingly fatal. With the Mediterranean routes closed off, migrants now attempt the crossing from Senegal to the Canary Islands, known as the deadliest migration route in the world. Irregular arrivals in Spain reached over 63,000 in 2024, double the amount in 2022, white arrivals in the Canaries rose 200 percent. Estimates put the death rate on this route between 10 to 40%, driven by poor boat condition, overcrowding, scarce food and water, and poor navigation. Nearly 10,000 migrants died on it in 2024, including more than 1,500 children. Senegalese call it Barca wala Barsakh: Barcelona or death.

This route is the deadliest migration route in the world, with an estimated death rate of 10 to 40%.  Poor boat condition, overcrowding, lack of food and drink, poor navigation systems results in extremely high numbers of death along this route, with nearly 10,000 migrants deaths in 2024 on this route. Over 1,500 children died trying to reach Spain in 2024. This route is widely known as ‘Barca wala Barsakh’, or ‘Barcelona or death’.

The EU continues to report on the ‘immigration crisis’, noting the stress on local infrastructure, and threats to jobs of European citizens. However, they never remark on the root causes of immigration, which in the case of West Africa, can largely be attributed to EU exploitation of West African resources and perpetration of poverty. European tactics to address migration consist of stricter patrolling of international waters, increased funding to coast guards and maritime enforcement, and funding ocean patrols in West African nations. In Mauritania, where these patrols are laregely funded, authorities are accused of systemic abuses of African migrants, including rape and torture. Karim Sall, President of AGIRE, a local environmental NGO, said, “I get so angry when [foreign nations] complain about immigration because they are the real pirates…It’s theft – plundering our resources to feed their own inhabitants while we suffer.” Europe has played the villain in other’s water for decades. It must stop auditioning for the victim in its own.