Assessing the Effectiveness of Monitoring Control and Surveillance of Illegal Fishing: The Case of West Africa
Open accessAbstract
This paper assesses illegal fishing in West Africa, one of the regions most affected by Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fishing (IUU) in the world. The catch, the economic loss and the amount recovered through Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS) are calculated based on a reconstruction method, and the information made available through national MCS units, between 2010 and 2016 in an effort to assess the effectiveness of surveillance efforts in the region. Results show considerable loss of revenues for Mauritania, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea and Sierra Leone, estimated at 2.3 billion USD annually, while a minimal amount of 13 million USD is recovered through MCS. In addition, this paper finds that countries touched by the Ebola crisis (Guinea and Sierra Leone) drive a tremendous increase in the loss generated by illegal fishing. However, further analysis shows that the overall severity of illegal fishing, as defined by a range of types investigated here, declines as the fines against the most severe forms of IUU fishing increase. Finally this study finds that Sierra Leone and The Gambia have the highest scoring MCS systems, and were the countries where the most offenders are caught and charged with the highest fines, while Senegal’s new legislations which improved MCS during 2015 does not appear to show on the scoring results. This study finds that illegal fishing amounts the equivalent of 65% of the legal reported catch from West Africa and poses serious concern for food security, and the economy in the region.
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Overexploitation of fisheries, including IUU fishing, damages marine ecosystems and results in the depletion of fish stock.
“The resulting consequences include the overexploitation of fisheries (including IUU fishing) which damages marine ecosystems and results in the depletion of fish stock (Zeller and Pauly, 2016;Doumbouya et al., 2017;Belhabib, Greer, and Pauly, 2018).”
From The Cyclical Nature of Maritime Security Threats: Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing as a Threat to Human and National Security in the Gulf of Guinea (2020) · cites this paper as Doumbouya et al., 2017
The Introduction states that West African fish stocks have declined because of over-exploitation, overcapacity, and illegal fishing. The paper does not say that these activities damage marine ecosystems; its Study Area section identifies marine ecosystems but does not describe damage to them. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredIUU fishing acts as a significant stressor, amounting to an estimated 65 per cent of the legal reported catch in the Gulf of Guinea.
“While pollution and climate change play a part in exacerbating the depletion of fisheries (Okafor-Yarwood, 2018), IUU fishing acts as a significant stressor, amounting to an estimated 65 per cent of the legal reported catch in the Gulf of Guinea (Doumbouya et al., 2017).”
From The Cyclical Nature of Maritime Security Threats: Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing as a Threat to Human and National Security in the Gulf of Guinea (2020) · cites this paper as Doumbouya et al., 2017
The Abstract states that illegal fishing amounts to 65% of the legal reported catch from West Africa and poses a serious concern for the region. It does not give that estimate for the Gulf of Guinea, so the citing sentence changes the geographic scope of the figure. (LLM, conf=0.90)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
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Cites
Estimating the Worldwide Extent of Illegal Fishing
Agnew, D. J., Pearce, J., Pramod, G., Peatman, T., Watson, R., Beddington, J. R., & Pitcher, T. J. (2009) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0004570 · Cited by 1,009 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 12
- Belhabib, D., Harper, S., Zeller, D., and Pauly, D. (eds.). (2012c). Marine Fisheries Catches in West Africa, 1950-2010, Part I. Vancouver, BC.
- Belhabib, D., Koutob, V., Sall, A., Lam, V. W., and Pauly, D. (2014b). Fisheries catch misreporting and its implications: the case of Senegal. Fish. Res. 151, 1-11. doi: 10.1016/j.fishres.2013.12.006 · DOI
- Belhabib, D., Koutob, V., Sall, A., Lam, V. W., Zeller, D., and Pauly, D. (2015a). Counting pirogues and missing the boat: reply to Chaboud et al.'s comment on Belhabib et al."Fisheries catch misreporting and its implications: the case of Senegal". Fish. Res. 164, 325-328. doi: 10.1016/j.fishres.2014.09.016 · DOI
- Belhabib, D., Mendy, A., Subah, Y., Broh, N. T., Jueseah, A. S., Nipey, N., et al. (2016). Fisheries catch under-reporting in The Gambia, Liberia and Namibia and the three large marine ecosystems which they represent. Environ. Dev. 17, 157-174. doi: 10.1016/j.envdev.2015.08.004 · DOI
- Belhabib, D., and Pauly, D. (eds.). (2015). Marine Fisheries Catches in West Africa, 1950-2010, Part II. Vancouver, BC.
- Belhabib, D., Sumaila, U. R., Lam, V. W., Zeller, D., Le Billon, P., Kane, E. A., et al. (2015b). Euros vs. Yuan: comparing European and Chinese fishing access in West Africa. PLoS ONE 10:e0118351. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0118351 · DOI · Paper page
- Belhabib, D., Sumaila, U. R., and Pauly, D. (2015c). Feeding the poor: contribution of West African fisheries to employment and food security. Ocean Coast. Manage. 111, 72-81. doi: 10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2015.04.010 · DOI
- Le Gallic, B., and Cox, A. (2006). An economic analysis of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing: key drivers and possible solutions. Mar. Policy 30, 689-695. doi: 10.1016/j.marpol.2005.09.008 · DOI
- MRAG (2005). Review of Impacts of Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing on Developing Countries. London: MRAG.
- Pauly, D., Belhabib, D., Blomeyer, R., Cheung, W. W., Cisneros-Montemayor, A. M., Copeland, D., et al. (2014). China's distant-water fisheries in the 21st century. Fish Fish. 15, 474-488. doi: 10.1111/faf.12032 · DOI
- Sumaila, U. R., Alder, J., and Keith, H. (2006). Global scope and economics of illegal fishing. Mar. Policy 30, 696-703. doi: 10.1016/j.marpol.2005.11.001 · DOI
- Swartz, W., Sumaila, R., and Watson, R. (2013). Global ex-vessel fish price database revisited: a new approach for estimating 'missing'prices. Environ. Resour. Econ. 56, 467-480. doi: 10.1007/s10640-012-9611-1 · DOI
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Sorted by citations
Okafor-Yarwood, I. (2020) · African Security · doi:10.1080/19392206.2020.1724432 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
- Authors
- Doumbouya, A., Camara, O. T., Mamie, J., Intchama, J. F., Jarra, A., Ceesay, S., Guèye, A., Ndiaye, D., Beibou, E., Padilla, A., & Belhabib, D.
- Affiliations
- Government of The Gambia (GM)
- Institut Mauritanien de Recherches Océanographiques et des Pêches (MR)
- University of British Columbia (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Belhabib, Dyhia
- Venue
- Frontiers in Marine Science
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2017-03-07
- Volume
- 4
- ISSN
- 2296-7745 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2594755553
- Cited by
- 135
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 24 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 18 · 2017: 3
- FWCI
- 8.91
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Frontiers in Marine Science (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Greater South Information System
- Funders
- Paul G. Allen Family Foundation
- MAVA Foundation
- University of British Columbia
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Marine and fisheries research
- Social Sciences › Transportation › Maritime Security and History
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law › Coastal and Marine Management
- Keywords
- illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, monitoring, control and surveillance, fisheries enforcement, surveillance effectiveness, Ebola crisis, West African fisheries, food security, fisheries legislation
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