France, June 28 -- Gambian fishermen are watching their future disappear. Their catches are shrinking, their costs are climbing and their boats are increasinglyidle. Much of the fish they once relied on is now hauled away by foreign trawlers -not to feed people, but to fatten farmed salmon, seabream and seabass in Europe.
The result is a growing crisis for West African coastal communities, where fish is both a staple food and a way of life.
"The ocean is not just about livelihood - it's part of people's identity," Gambian journalist and researcher Mustapha Manneh told RFI at last week's UN Oceans Conference in Nice.
Manneh has spent years documenting how industrial fishing - much of it European - is depleting Gambia's waters and destabil...